New | Investors to buy £2.8 billion stake in Hutchison’s UK telco
A group of investors including a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority will pay £2.77 billion (HK$32.7 billion) in cash for stakes in the UK telecommunications business that Hutchison Whampoa bought in March, the company said in a regulatory filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Friday.
Other investors buying into Britain’s second-largest mobile carrier, O2, included BTGI and BTG Pactual, affiliates of a Singaporean Sovereign wealth fund and the Canada Pension Plan.
Hutchison, the Hong Kong conglomerate owned by billionaire Li Ka-shing, bought O2 for £10.25 billion earlier this year. The deal was first announced on January 23. O2 was owned by Spain’s Telefonica.
The company already owns rival British operator Three and would hold about 40 per cent of the market if the O2 deal is approved by regulators. Hutchison plans to combine O2 and Three’s operations after the completion of the deal.
