BT completes sale of 5.5% stake in TechM for $100 mn

UK-based telecom company BT today completed the sale of its 5.5 per cent stake in Tech Mahindra to partner Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) for Rs 451 crore ($100.2 million). After the sale, BT has 24.4 per cent in Tech Mahindra.

Tech Mahindra, the information technology (IT) services company that focuses on the telecom sector, was established as a joint venture (JV) between BT and M&M in 1986.

In a filing to the London Stock Exchange, BT said: “Under the accord announced on November 26, 2010, BT had sold 6.9 million Tech Mahindra shares to M&M at Rs 653.6 per share, reducing its stake in the JV to 24.4 per cent.”

BT has also indicated it expects to continue to have shareholding in Tech Mahindra for some time, but that it may consider further stake sale in the IT company.

With this acquisition, M&M’s stake in Tech Mahindra increases to 48.3 per cent. Shares of Tech Mahindra today closed 3.88 per cent higher at Rs 673.20, while M&M scrips closed at Rs 757.60, down by 1.34 per cent, on the Bombay Stock Exchange.