BERLIN (Reuters) - Deutsche Telekom (ETR:DTEGn) could increase its stake in British rival BT (LON:BT), despite a billions-strong drop in the value of its initial investment, Deutsche Telekom CEO Tim Hoettges said in a Financial Times interview published on Monday.
Hoettges sees an increased stake as one of the options for Deutsche Telekom to recoup some of those losses, he told the newspaper, vowing he "will get that money back".
"I am not nervous, I will stay quiet, and do the portfolio transaction when I'm ready to do so," he said, adding that BT -the "cheapest telco" - had a lot of potential.
Over the past eight years, the former British monopoly has lost about two thirds of its market capitalization, shrinking the value of Telekom's 12% stake by around four billion euros ($4.22 billion).
Telekom became BT's second-largest shareholder in 2015 when it sold its mobile joint venture EE, accepting part of the 16.7 billion euro purchase price in shares.
Looking back, Hoettges called the deal his "biggest mistake", adding: "It was too early and I didn't understand all of the obstacles around BT."
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