By Samuel Indyk
Investing.com – Reliance Industries (NS:RELI) has rebuffed reports that it is planning to make a bid for BT Group (LON:BT), after media reports suggested the Indian conglomerate was mulling an approach.
The Economic Times reported that Reliance was weighing a bid for the UK telecoms operator, citing multiple people familiar with the matter. However, Reliance has said this is not the case.
“We categorically deny any intent to bid for the UK telecoms group, BT, formerly British Telecom, as reported in the article titled 'Reliance Mulling Bid for UK’s Telco BT Group' published in The Economic Times dated November 29, 2021,” Reliance said in a statement. “The article is completely speculative and baseless. We expect greater diligence and verification of facts before publishing such articles.”
The report also suggested that Reliance may propose to partner with BT’s fibre optic unit Openreach and fund its expansion plans. However, just last month, BT said they were no longer looking for a strategic partner to help fund the expansion of the Openreach service.
BT shares had surged by as much as 9% in early trade on Monday but pared some of the gains following the denial by Reliance Industries.
At 10:13GMT, BT shares were trading higher by 4% at 160.21 pence per share.