BT BT Group PLC

By Adria Calatayud

French telecommunications group Orange (ORA.FR) said Thursday that it plans to offload its 248 million shares, representing a 2.5% stake, in British peer BT Group PLC (BT.A.LN) through a private placement.

Orange said it will no longer have any exposure to BT shares after completing the share placement. The final terms of the placement will determined by Orange at the conclusion of the bookbuilding process. The transaction is expected to settle on July 2, the French company said.

Based on BT's closing share price on Thursday, Orange's stake is worth 492.9 million pounds ($625 million). BT shares have fallen 16.5% since the start of 2019.

BT said it intends to participate in the offering and has placed an order to repurchase shares up to a maximum value of GBP80 million.

Orange received its stake in BT as part of the British company's acquisition of EE, which was completed in January 2016. Deutsche Telekom AG (DTE.XE) also received BT shares as part of the EE deal and currently maintains a 12.1% stake in the company, according to FactSet data.

Write to Adria Calatayud at adria.calatayudvaello@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 27, 2019 13:47 ET (17:47 GMT)

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