THIS ANNOUNCEMENT RELATES TO THE DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION
THAT QUALIFIED OR MAY HAVE QUALIFIED AS INSIDE INFORMATION WITHIN
THE MEANING OF ARTICLE 7(1) OF THE MARKET ABUSE REGULATION (EU)
596/2014 AS IT FORMS PART OF UK DOMESTIC LAW BY VIRTUE OF THE
EUROPEAN UNION (WITHDRAWAL) ACT 2018, AS AMENDED.
NOT
FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION IN OR INTO OR TO ANY
PERSON LOCATED OR RESIDENT IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ITS
TERRITORIES AND POSSESSIONS, ANY STATE OF THE UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA OR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA (THE "UNITED STATES") OR IN OR
INTO OR TO ANY PERSON LOCATED OR RESIDENT IN ANY OTHER JURISDICTION
WHERE OR TO WHOM IT IS UNLAWFUL TO RELEASE, PUBLISH OR DISTRIBUTE
THIS ANNOUNCEMENT.
14
June 2024
BRITISH TELECOMMUNICATIONS
PUBLIC LIMITED COMPANY ANNOUNCES MAXIMUM ACCEPTANCE
AMOUNT
British Telecommunications public
limited company (the "Offeror") announces today, with
reference to the invitations made to the holders of its outstanding
EUR 650,000,000 0.500 per cent. Notes due 12 September 2025 (ISIN:
XS2051494222) (the "2025
Notes") and EUR 1,300,000,000 1.750 per cent. Notes due 10
March 2026 (ISIN: XS1377679961) (the "2026 Notes" and together with the 2025
Notes, the "Notes" and each
a "Series") as described in
the tender offer memorandum dated 13 June 2024 (the "Tender Offer Memorandum") (each such
invitation an "Offer" and
together the "Offers")
that, following pricing of the New Notes to be issued by the
Offeror, the Maximum Acceptance Amount in respect of the Offers is
EUR 750,000,000 in aggregate nominal amount of Notes.
The Offeror reserves the right, in
its sole and absolute discretion and for any reason, to increase or
decrease the Maximum Acceptance Amount. The Offeror will announce
the final Series Acceptance Amounts as soon as reasonably
practicable after the Pricing Time on 20 June 2024.
The Offers commenced on 13 June 2024
and will expire at 4.00 p.m. (London time) on 19 June 2024.
Settlement is expected to take place on 24 June 2024.
The Offers are being made on the
terms and subject to the conditions (including satisfaction or
waiver of the New Financing Condition) contained in the Tender
Offer Memorandum and should be read in conjunction with the Tender
Offer Memorandum. Capitalised terms used but not otherwise defined
in this announcement shall have the meaning given to them in the
Tender Offer Memorandum.
Barclays Bank PLC and J.P. Morgan Securities plc
are acting as
Dealer Managers for the Offers and Kroll Issuer Services Limited is
acting as Tender Agent. For detailed terms of the Offers please
refer to the Tender Offer Memorandum which (subject to offer and
distribution restrictions) can be obtained from the Dealer Managers
and the Tender Agent referred to below.
DEALER
MANAGERS
|
Barclays Bank
PLC
1
Churchill Place
London
E14 5HP
United
Kingdom
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 3134 8515
Attn:
Liability Management Group
Email:
eu.lm@barclays.com
|
J.P. Morgan Securities
plc
25 Bank
Street
Canary
Wharf
London
E14 5JP
United
Kingdom
Telephone: +44 207 134 2468
Attn:
EMEA Liability Management Group
Email:
liability_management_EMEA@jpmorgan.com
|
THE TENDER
AGENT
|
Kroll Issuer Services
Limited
The Shard
32 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9SG
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 20 7704 0880
Attn: David Shilson
Email: bt@is.kroll.com
Website: https://deals.is.kroll.com/bt
|
This announcement is released by
British Telecommunications public limited company and contains
information that qualified or may have qualified as inside
information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse
Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of United Kingdom
domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018,
as amended ("UK MAR"), encompassing
information relating to the Offers, as described above. For the
purposes of UK MAR and the Implementing Technical Standards, this
announcement is made by Andrew Binnie, BT Group Treasury Director
of the Offeror.
DISCLAIMER
This announcement must be read in
conjunction with the Tender Offer Memorandum. This announcement and
the Tender Offer Memorandum contain important information which
should be read carefully before any decision is made with respect
to the Offers. If any Qualifying Holder is in any doubt as to the
contents of this announcement, the Tender Offer Memorandum or the
action it should take, it is recommended to seek its own financial,
legal, regulatory and tax advice, including in respect of any tax
consequences, immediately from its broker, bank manager, solicitor,
accountant or other independent financial, tax or legal
adviser.
None of the Offeror, the Dealer
Managers or the Tender Agent or any of their respective directors,
employees, officers, agents or affiliates expresses any opinion
about the merits of the Offers or makes any recommendation as to
whether or not any Qualifying Holder should offer to sell its Notes
and no one has been authorised by the Offeror, the Dealer Managers
or the Tender Agent to make any such recommendation.
OFFER RESTRICTIONS
UNITED STATES
The Offers are not being made, and
will not be made, directly or indirectly in or into, or by use of
the mails of, or by any means or instrumentality of interstate or
foreign commerce of, or of any facilities of a national securities
exchange of, the United States. This includes, but is not limited
to, facsimile transmission, electronic mail, telex, telephone, the
internet and other forms of electronic communication. The Notes may
not be tendered in the Offers by any such use, means,
instrumentality or facility from or within the United States or by
persons located or resident in the United States as defined in
Regulation S of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the
"Securities
Act").
Accordingly, copies of this
announcement, the Tender Offer Memorandum and any other documents
or materials relating to the Offers are not being, and must not be,
directly or indirectly, mailed or otherwise transmitted,
distributed or forwarded (including, without limitation, by
custodians, nominees or trustees) in or into the United States. Any
purported tender of Notes in the Offers resulting directly or
indirectly from a violation of these restrictions will be invalid,
and any purported tender of Notes made by a person located in the
United States or any agent, fiduciary or other intermediary acting
on a non-discretionary basis for a principal giving instructions
from within the United States will be invalid and will not be
accepted.
This announcement or the Tender
Offer Memorandum is not an offer to buy or sell, or a solicitation
of an offer to buy or sell, any Notes or other securities in the
United States. Securities may not be offered or sold in the United
States absent registration under, or an exemption from the
registration requirements of, the Securities Act.
Each Holder of Notes participating
in the Offers will represent that it is not a U.S. person, it is
not located in the United States and it is not participating in the
Offers from the United States or it is acting on a
non-discretionary basis for a principal located outside the United
States that is not giving an order to participate in the Offers
from the United States.
For the purposes of this and above
paragraphs, "United States"
means the United States of America, its territories and
possessions, any state of the United States of America and the
District of Columbia.
UNITED KINGDOM
The communication of this
announcement, the Tender Offer Memorandum and any other documents
or materials relating to the Offers is not being made and such
documents and/or materials have not been approved by an authorised
person for the purposes of section 21 of the Financial Services and
Markets Act 2000. Accordingly, such documents and/or materials are
not being distributed to, and must not be passed on to, the general
public in the United Kingdom. The communication of such documents
and/or materials as a financial promotion is only being made to,
and may only be acted upon by, those persons in the United Kingdom
falling within the definition of investment professionals (as
defined in Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act
2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005, as amended (the
"Financial Promotion
Order")) or persons who are within Article 43 of the
Financial Promotion Order or any other persons to whom it may
otherwise lawfully be made under the Financial Promotion
Order.
BELGIUM
None of this announcement, the
Tender Offer Memorandum or any other documents or materials
relating to the Offers have been submitted to or will be submitted
for approval or recognition to the Belgian Financial Services and
Markets Authority (Autorité des
services et marchés financiers / Autoriteit financiële diensten en
markten) and, accordingly, the Offers may not be made in
Belgium by way of a public offering, as defined in Articles 3 and 6
of the Belgian Law of 1 April 2007 on public takeover bids (the
"Belgian Takeover Law"), as
amended or replaced from time to time. Accordingly, the Offers may
not be advertised and the Offers will not be extended, and none of
this announcement, the Tender Offer Memorandum or any other
documents or materials relating to the Offers (including any
memorandum, information circular, brochure or any similar
documents) has been or shall be distributed or made available,
directly or indirectly, to any individual or legal entity in
Belgium other than (i) in reliance upon any private placement
exemption set out in Article 6, §3 of the Belgian Takeover Law or
(ii) in any circumstances set out in Article 6, §4 of the Belgian
Takeover Law.
Insofar as Belgium is concerned,
this announcement and the Tender Offer Memorandum have been issued
only for the personal use of the above investors qualifying for the
private placement exemption set out in Article 6, §3 of the Belgian
Takeover Law and exclusively for the purpose of the Offers.
Accordingly, the information contained in this announcement and the
Tender Offer Memorandum may not be used for any other purpose or
disclosed to any other person in Belgium.
FRANCE
This announcement, the
Tender Offer Memorandum
and any documents or offering materials relating to the Offers may
not be distributed in the Republic of France except to qualified
investors (investisseurs
qualifiés) as defined in Article 2(e) of Regulation (EU)
2017/1129, as amended (the "Prospectus Regulation") and Article
L.411-2 of the French Code
monétaire et financier as amended from time to time. This
announcement and the Tender Offer Memorandum have not been and will
not be submitted for clearance to nor approved by the Autorité des marchés
financiers.
REPUBLIC OF ITALY
None of the Offers, this
announcement, the Tender Offer Memorandum or any other documents or
materials relating to the Offers has been or will be submitted to
the clearance procedures of the Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la
Borsa ("CONSOB")
pursuant to Italian laws and regulations. The Offers are being
carried out in the Republic of Italy ("Italy") as exempted offers pursuant to
article 101-bis, paragraph 3-bis of the Legislative Decree No. 58
of 24 February 1998, as amended (the "Financial Services Act") and article
35-bis, paragraph 4 of CONSOB Regulation No. 11971 of 14 May 1999,
as amended. Holders or beneficial owners of the Notes that are
located in Italy may tender their Notes in the Offers through
authorised persons (such as investment firms, banks or financial
intermediaries permitted to conduct such activities in Italy in
accordance with the Financial Services Act, CONSOB Regulation No.
20307 of 15 February 2018, as amended from time to time, and
Legislative Decree No. 385 of 1 September 1993, as amended) and in
compliance with applicable laws and regulations or with
requirements imposed by CONSOB or any other Italian
authority.
Each intermediary must comply with
the applicable laws and regulations concerning information duties
vis-à-vis its clients in connection with the Notes and/or the
Offers.
GENERAL
This announcement and the Tender Offer
Memorandum do not constitute an offer to buy or the solicitation of
an offer to sell Notes, and tenders of Notes for purchase pursuant
to the Offers will not be accepted from Holders in any
circumstances in which such offer or solicitation is
unlawful.
NEW NOTES
Any investment decision to purchase any New
Notes should be made solely on the basis of the information
contained in (i) the prospectus dated 7 June 2024 prepared in
connection with the €20,000,000,000 Euro Medium Term Note Programme
of the Offeror (the "Prospectus") and (ii) the relevant
final terms in respect of the New Notes pursuant to which the New
Notes are intended to be issued, and no reliance is to be placed on
any representations other than those contained in the Prospectus.
Subject to compliance with all applicable securities laws and
regulations, the Prospectus is available on the website of the
Offeror and from the joint lead managers of the issue of the New
Notes, on request.
The New Notes are not being, and will not be,
offered or sold in the United States. Nothing in this announcement
constitutes an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy
the New Notes in the United States or any other jurisdiction.
Securities may not be offered, sold or delivered in the United
States absent registration under, or an exemption from the
registration requirements of, the Securities Act. The New Notes
have not been, and will not be, registered under the Securities Act
or the securities laws of any state or other jurisdiction of the
United States and may not be offered, sold or delivered, directly
or indirectly, within the United States or to, or for the account
or benefit of, U.S. persons (as defined in Regulation S under the
Securities Act).
Compliance
information for the New Notes: EEA MiFID II /
UK MiFIR professionals / ECPs-only /No EEA or UK PRIIPs KID -
Manufacturer target market (MiFID II / UK MiFIR product governance)
is eligible counterparties and professional clients only (all
distribution channels). No EEA or UK PRIIPs key information
document (KID) has been prepared as not available to retail in EEA
or UK. See the Prospectus for further information.
No action has been or will be taken in any
jurisdiction in relation to the New Notes to permit a public
offering of securities. The minimum denomination of the New Notes
will be EUR 100,000.