Kwasi Kwarteng to review French billionaire’s BT stake over security concerns

theguardian.com:

The business secretary has used new government powers on national security to intervene in a potential takeover of BT by its biggest shareholder, the French billionaire Patrick Drahi.

BT said Kwasi Kwarteng would investigate the move by Drahi’s telecoms group Altice, after it increased its stake in BT from 12.1% to 18% in mid-December.

Kwarteng has used “call-in” powers granted through the new National Security and Investment Act, which allow ministers to block transactions linked to important national assets and even unwind them retrospectively, if they are deemed to harm national security.

Those rules – which apply to key sectors including communications, energy, defence and transport – came into effect in January, and have been described by the government as the “biggest shake-up of the UK’s national security regime for 20 years”.

BT said it would “fully cooperate with this review”.

Drahi paid about £3.2bn to build his stake in BT and previously said that he did not intend to make an offer for BT, but that his position could change in certain circumstances – including if a third party made an offer for the business.

Kwarteng’s intervention comes months after the government warned it would “not hesitate to act” to protect BT from a foreign takeover, if necessary.

News that Altice’s stake-building in BT would be called in by the business secretary came a day after Kwarteng said he had launched an inquiry into the proposed takeover of the UK’s largest microchip manufacturer, Newport Wafer Fab, by the Chinese-backed Nexperia. That deal will also be scrutinised under the new law.

Kwarteng tweeted: “We welcome overseas investment, but it must not threaten Britain’s national security.”