LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - BT said it was in talks to sell its French domestic operations to Computacenter as the telecoms group seeks to focus on services for international organisations.
The FTSE 100 company said it was in exclusive discussions with Computacenter and that the deal would require consulting works councils in France for at least two months. The companies are likely to complete the transaction by the end of 2020 once regulators have signed it off, BT said.

BT's French domestic operations include management and maintenance of IT and network infrastructure, networking and related services. They generated about £104m of revenue in the year to March 2019.

The acquisition would strengthen Computacenter's position in French networking and bring the FTSE 250 company more large customers in France. BT said it would keep a strong business in France for multinational businesses and organisations including access to its global network and a cyber security centre.

"With this agreement we are close to reaching another milestone in the execution of our strategy to make BT Global a more agile business focused on the growing requirements of our multinational customers," said Bas Burger, chief executive of BT's global division, said. "It also offers a positive future for our domestic customers and the people who support them."

BT is reshaping its global unit to concentrate on next-generation networking, cloud and security services for businesses and other groups. Computacenter said the acquisition would increase its French revenue moderately from €645m (£599m) in 2019.

Mike Norris, CEO of Computacenter, said: "The current coronavirus pandemic shows the importance of secure and reliable networks to our customers and this deal would significantly strengthen our existing French business in this growth area. It would bring our customer offering in France closer to the broader portfolio in our larger European markets, providing a strong foundation for our continued long-term growth."

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