By Chip Cummins
LONDON-- BT Group PLC said it has entered exclusive talks to buy
U.K. mobile operator EE for GBP12.5 billion ($19.6 billion) in cash
and stock from Germany's Deutsche Telekom and France's Orange
SA.
The period of exclusivity will last several weeks, BT said in a
statement.
If a deal is reached, BT said Deutsche Telekom would end up with
a 12% stake in BT and Orange would hold a 4% stake in BT.
The deal comes after BT looked at both EE and 02, another U.K.
mobile provider owned by Spanish telecom giant Telefonica SA. BT
has been eager to re-enter its home mobile market after selling,
about a decade ago, its struggling cellphone operator. That
business eventually became O2.
The U.K. market is dominated by four big players, EE, O2,
Vodafone PLC and Hutchinson Wampoa Ltd.'s Three. BT, which
dominates the U.K.'s fixed- line market, had previously said it
would start offering mobile-phone subscriptions to customers
through a leasing deal with EE's network.
A deal would also give Deutsche Telekom a significant stake in
BT, scrambling further the European telecom landscape at a time of
active deal making. BT said Deutsche Telekom would get a board seat
along with its 12% stake in the company.
Contending with still-weak consumer sentiment in home markets, a
handful of European telecoms have branched out to faster-growing
markets overseas. Others have tried to diversify their offerings,
pushing into cable and Internet service and content, for
instance.
The talks were disclosed after European markets closed. BT's
American depositary shares were trading up 1.47% in New York.
Write to Chip Cummins at chip.cummins@wsj.com
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