India’s Reliance Industries seek controlling stake in UK’s BT Group

Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) is assessing the possibility of bidding on British telecom titan, BT Group Plc., reported by the Economic Times.

According to the report published by the news hub on Monday, Reliance is currently planning to place an unsought offer to obtain shares into the British telco, or as an alternative, to have a controlling stake in the company. From the 419 institutional investors in the British firm, some have expressed their interest in cashing out if a suitable offer surfaces.

In parallel, Reliance is considering proposing a partnership with BT’s fiber-optic firm, Openreach, to finance and expand its plans.

Currently, BT Group’s market gap has reached a whopping $20.63 billion since November 26th. In the event of RIL taking control of the UK company, it will mark the biggest outbound merger and acquisition (M&A) related to any Indian establishment.

An outbound M&A is when a domestic company obtains or merges with a different firm in a different country. This demands notable guidance concerning the legality and issues of compliance to accommodate the other country’s demands, restrictions, and requirements to be included in the pre-merger interactions.

Analysts believe that Asia’s wealthiest man, Chairman and managing director at RIL, Mukesh Ambani, has directed his attention towards BT to further expand the company’s reach on a global scale.

It is worth mentioning that this does not mark the first time Reliance has tried to reach out for global expansion. In September, the Indian Group was outbid by a consortium of Apax and Warburg Pincus to obtain power over Netherland’s T-Mobile.