Debt-ridden Patrick Drahi will not be hanging up at BT
Under pressure: billionaire Patrick Drahi
Billionaire telecom magnate and Sotheby’s owner Patrick Drahi is under pressure to divide his vast empire.
The French businessman’s children want the tycoon, who is BT’s largest shareholder, to scale back his investments in mobile telephony and broadband so they can put their money into other sectors, reports suggest.
Even more pressingly, he faces a standoff with the creditors of Altice, his telecoms and media company struggling with a crippling debt pile of around £48 billion.
Selling assets can be a way to raise money quickly. This is already happening, with Altice France’s media arm being sold for £1.3 billion in March. But there is one investment that Drahi, 60, has steadfastly reserved despite losing money on it, and that is BT.
The Mail on Sunday understands that a sale of its 25 percent stake in the British telecom group is not on the agenda. This is likely to raise eyebrows as the Moroccan-born tycoon has lost huge amounts of money since initially buying a 12 percent stake in 2021.
A few months later he increased this to 18 percent and in May 2023 he increased it to 24.5 percent.
Drahi – through Altice – has lost more than £200m on his 2023 share purchase alone after BT’s share price fell.
BT, now worth £10.5 billion, has fallen 44 percent in value since its initial buy-in.
He insists he does not want to take over BT, although the Mail on Sunday reported last year that he was considering increasing his stake to 29 percent. His long-term goal is uncertain. BT is under new leadership after Allison Kirkby took over as CEO of Swedish group Telia in February, replacing Philip Jansen. Telecoms analyst Paolo Pescatore said: ‘BT’s strategy has not changed since Drahi started building his stake.
‘A number of difficult decisions were made under Philip Jansen and things are now in better shape.’
While BT continues to roll on in Britain, Drahi’s focus will be on the continent for the foreseeable future. He is said to be using his hard-line tactics on Altice’s creditors, who are baffled by his insistence on reducing the company’s debts, when many thought he would pay them off by selling off parts of the company.
Alleged corruption at Altice’s Portuguese branch is also increasing pressure on Drahi and French prosecutors began investigating the allegations in March.
Altice declined to comment.