Saudi Telecom to approach Patrick Drahi regarding BT stake

Saudi Telecom may be preparing to approach British Telecom's largest shareholder Patrick Drahi regarding raising its interest in the UK telco.

In September, Saudi Telecom built a 9.9% stake in Spanish operator Telefónica, partly in derivatives, and now comes word that the Saudis were looking at other European players.

According to the Times, Saudi Telecom could make an approach to Drahi via his Altice UK vehicle, which has a stake of almost 25% in BT.

As of 0915 GMT, BT shares were up 0.87% at 127.15p.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com