British Telecommunications this morning began mopping up after Britain's largest-ever rights issue, with the auction of almost 207 million shares left over from its £5.9 billion cash call.
The company said last night that it had sold 89.5% of the stock on offer in a strong show of support for the main plank of its debt-slashing plan - leaving BT with shares worth nearly £900 million to auction to international investors.
The primary take-up of almost 90% was at the top end of expectations and dashed early fears that Britain's biggest fixed-line operator would see a dismal response to the issue.
The auction of the remaining stock began early this morning and is expected to run until 4pm, with the result due to be announced early tomorrow morning. Over 250 institutional investors have registered for the auction, although other investors can still participate.
The auction will determine a single strike price for the shares to be sold, and all investors bidding above that level are likely to get allocated shares at the strike price. The strong take-up sets a benchmark for other European telecoms companies, such as Dutch telecoms firm, that are considering selling shares to cut debt.
BT said it would not comment until after the auction, but Chairman Christopher Bland will be pleased with the result.
His appointment last month in place of Iain Vallance paved the way for the rights issue and a series of sales to slash BT's £28 billion debt pile, accumulated through purchases of advanced mobile phone licences and acquisitions. The sales have raised almost £10 billion.
