Yahoo Finance Billionaire Tycoon Carlos Slim’s Investment Firm Discloses 3.2% Stake in BT
(Bloomberg) -- Billionaire Carlos Slim’s family investment firm has disclosed a 3.2% stake in UK telecommunications company BT Group Plc, whose new chief executive officer has reversed share declines and boosted the dividend in the past month.
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Slim’s firm, Control Empresarial de Capitales SA de CV, crossed a regulatory threshold requiring it to report its stake on June 6, BT said in a filing on Wednesday.
Slim, 84, is the world’s 17th-richest person, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The Mexican tycoon made the bulk of that fortune from America Movil SAB de CV, the largest mobile operator in Latin America. Separate from Slim’s family investment firm, America Movil is also Telekom Austria AG’s biggest shareholder, and owns a stake in Dutch carrier Royal KPN NV.
A representative for BT said it looks forward to engaging with the Slim family investment firm and said it welcomes “any investor who recognizes the long-term value of our business.”
The stake is “just a financial investment, as we often make in many companies,” Arturo Elias Ayub, a spokesman for Slim, said by phone.
BT CEO Allison Kirkby is working to cut costs and reverse share losses at the UK telecom company. In May, she announced a surprise dividend boost, sending the stock up the most in 24 years on the day. Kirkby also said she’d aim to cut £3 billion ($3.9 billion) in annual costs by fiscal 2029.
BT shares gained 1.1% in London trading on Wednesday to close at 129.40 pence. The shares have risen 4.7% this year.
Slim’s wealth was built largely on the success of his investments in telecommunications, starting with his acquisition of Telefonos de Mexico through a government privatization in 1990. He acquired phone companies throughout Latin America and expanded into wireless service with cheap prepaid cellphone plans, building what eventually became America Movil. An attempt to expand the business model into Europe, beginning in 2013, was less successful.
--With assistance from Shona Ghosh and Crayton Harrison.
(Updates with comment from spokesman in fifth paragraph.)
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