By Mark Graham, 21 May 2001 12:32
NEWS The £5.9bn rights issue, to help clear BT's £30bn debt, allows shareholders to buy three new shares for every ten they already own at the discounted price of £3 each. However, BT shares, which have already dropped from £15 to £5 in the past year, dropped further this morning from 538p to 482p. A BT spokesman said shareholders have until 14 June to sell or take up the shares and if they choose to do nothing BT will assume they are selling and "issue a cheque accordingly". In related news, the spokesman said BT is not commenting on media speculation that Maximillian Ardelt, CEO of BT's German mobile operator Viag Interkom, is to step down after strategy disagreements with the parent company. With the release of its fiscal 2000 results last week BT acknowledged a £3bn goodwill payment for Viag and admitted with hindsight Viag did not seem as good a buy as it appeared last August when it paid $6bn for a controlling stake in the company.
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