Orange to sell BT stake

Orange Group is set to sell off its £495 million (€555 million) stake in BT.

Deutsche Telekom and France Télécom (now Orange) initially launched EE as a 50:50 venture in 2010, with the company being acquired by BT in 2016. 

Orange held a 4% stake in BT after the sale of EE in 2014, which was cut to 2.5% in 2017. On June 27, the French Orange announced that it would sell off all of its remaining 248 million shares.

BT has agreed to buy back approximately £80 million (€89.6 million) of those shares. A succinct statement from the company confirmed that “the repurchase is expected to settle on July 2.”

The deal will mean that Orange will have no further exposure to BT, with BT currently undergoing a major restructuring under the stewardship of new CEO Phillip Jansen.  

Deutsche Telekom still remains the largest single shareholder of BT, owning 12% of the company.