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London (pte016/03.12.2004/10:50) - British telecoms operator BT http://www.bt.com has taken over the Italian telecom company Albacom, in which it previously had a 26 per cent stake. As the Financial Times (FT) http://www.ft.com reports, BT announced today that it had bought the remaining 74 per cent holding from its three joint venture partners - Eni, the Italian energy group, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro and Mediaset - for at least 116 million euros. According to BT, there is a chance it may have to pay more if Albacom exceeds certain performance targets, but the final price would not exceed four times earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in the year to 2009.
Under the agreement, BT will provide the three former shareholders with communications services for a minimum of five years, which is expected to bring in 150 million pounds (217.14 million euros). BT expects to generate 20 million pounds (28.98 million euros) of annual cost savings from the deal.
The move comes after BT's recent purchase of the California-based Infonet, which serves US-based multinationals. The UK group has also confirmed recently that it is considering buying Radianz, a business telecoms services group owned by Reuters and France Telecom.
BT acquired a stake in Albacom in 1995.
According to a statement by the British telecoms operator, the deal reflected its strategy of "establishing a pan-European presence, with strong local operations in key countries." It also added that full ownership would enable it to offer a complete "end-to-end" service to Albacom's customers. According to Albacom, the deal would significantly increase its share of the Italian digital networking market.
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