BT Group (LON:BT) shares fell more than 3% on Monday after the broadband provider said Sunil Bharti Mittal, founder and chairman of Bharti Enterprises, and Gopal Vittal, vice chairman and managing director of Bharti Airtel Ltd., had been appointed to its board as non-independent non-executive directors.
The appointments are effective immediately and follow a relationship agreement between BT Group and Bharti Global Ltd., the international investment arm of Bharti Enterprises.
Under the agreement, Bharti Global has the right to nominate two board members if it and its affiliates hold at least a 20% economic interest in BT. That right reduces to one nomination if the holding falls below 20% but remains at or above 10%.
Mittal founded Bharti Enterprises, whose flagship company Airtel operates in 15 countries across India and Africa and serves more than half a billion customers. He is also co-chairman of satellite operator Eutelsat Group and chair of Airtel Africa Plc.
Vittal has led Airtel for more than a decade, overseeing an increase in market share from 30% to over 40% and a fivefold rise in market capitalization to $120 billion.
He previously worked at Hindustan Unilever and is chairperson of the GSMA, the global mobile industry association.
Bharti Global has made several investments in the UK, including backing satellite operator OneWeb before its merger with Eutelsat in 2023. It also owns hospitality assets such as The Hoxton hotels and Scotland’s Gleneagles resort.
Source :
https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/bt-group-shares-slide-over-3-as-bhartis-mittal-vittal-join-board-4238167
