BT has entered exclusive talks with the owners of EE for a potential 12.5 billion-pound ($19.6 billion) acquisition deal to give the former UK state telecoms firm the top position in mobile as well as fixed line broadband services.BT had been in competing talks with both the Spanish group Telefonica's rival mobile firm O2 and EE's owners, Orange and Deutsche Telekom, putting the 168-year-old fixed line firm in a strong position in negotiating for a return to the consumer mobile market after 13 years away.BT said it now expects further negotiations with EE's owners to take several weeks under the exclusivity pact to reach a definitive agreement.If completed, BT will pay for EE with a roughly 50:50 ratio of cash and shares for a combined value of 12.5 billion pounds, although Deutsche Telekom will get a 12 percent stake in BT and the right to appoint one board member while France's Orange will get more cash and only a 4 percent stake in BT.
Orange SA, formerly France Telecom SA, is a France-based company that is engaged, principally, in the provision of integrated telecommunications services. Shares of ORAN fell by 1.02% or $-0.17/share to $16.47. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $11.80 and as high as $18.05. On average, 605931 shares of ORAN exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 503171.
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