UK: BT wants to buy the mobile operator EE, partner of Wembley Stadium, for €15.7 billion

The British telecommunications group BT (British Telecom) has commenced exclusive negotiations with its German and French counterparts Deutsche Telekom and Orange to takeover their joint venture EE, the British mobile operator, on 15/12/2014. The duration of the period of negotiations was not disclosed.

The proposed transaction is valued at £12.5bn (€15.7bn), indicated BT. This amount would be financed in the form of cash and issuing new common shares of BT to Deutsche Telekom, who would then own 12% of the British group’s shares, guaranteeing them a seat on the board of directors. Orange would then own 4% of BT's capital.

• EE is the No. 1 mobile operator in the UK and is the main partner of Wembley Stadium (capacity 90,000) in London, from 26/02/2014 until 2020.
• The mobile operator has 24.5 million direct customers (subscriptions and prepaid cards) as of 30/09/2014 and an EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and impairment of fixed assets) of £1588m (nearly €2bn) in fiscal year 2014 (from 01/07/2013 to 30/06/2014).
• "The proposed acquisition would…