British telecoms company BT Group will pay a minimum of €116m to gain full control of loss-making Italian telecoms firm Albacom, as the UK company continues its return to the takeover trail.
BT said today that it was buying the 74% it does not own in Albacom, as it seeks out growth opportunities in the lucrative corporate telecoms sector beyond its fiercely competitive home market.
Albacom is the second-largest Italian business telecoms provider behind Telecom Italia, with an 11% share of the data services market.
The acquisition follows BT's $965m takeover last month of US corporate telecoms group Infonet Services, which marked the company's first major overseas acquisition since it was forced into a rescue cash call in 2001.
BT will acquire stakes in Albacom held by Italian energy group ENI, broadcaster Mediaset and bank Banca Nazionale del Lavoro.
BT said the deal would allow it to offer an improved service to its Italian customers. The parties had been in talks earlier this year regarding the sale of their stakes to BT.
Albacom was set up in September 1995 and provides data transmission, voice and Internet services to more than 240,000 Italian businesses and to international companies active in Italy.
BT said that, although the Albacom deal would be marginally dilutive to earnings per share in 2005-2006, it would become accretive to earnings per share during 2006-2007. BT also said it expected to generate annual cost savings of at least €20m in Albacom.
A BT spokesman said no firm decision had yet been taken on job losses at Albacom, although BT Global Services Chief Executive Andy Green said that staff numbers were likely to fall to 1,300 from 1,500. Job losses would be voluntary, BT added.
