BT stake sale not on cards: Tech Mahindra

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There were talks on the Street that British Telecom (BT) may be selling its 31% stake in Tech Mahindra . CP Gurnani of Tech Mahindra said that he is not aware of any move from British Telecom's (BT) side. He said that the BT relationship is doing well and stake sale is not on cards. Tech Mahindra has not seen long-term business commitments from BT in the last two years, he added.

Excerpts from CNBC-TV18's exclusive interview with CP Gurnani:

Q: How true is this Financial Times report that BT is considering selling its stake?

A: I am right now in Canada, when I saw this news on the web. I was surprised but then rumours or stories have their own way. A month back somebody called me up exactly for the same reason but that time it said that BT is buying Tech Mahindra's stake, now you hear BT is selling its stake. It's nothing that I am aware of and is definitely not on the cards.

BT's relationship with Tech Mahindra is extremely well. We have signed one USD 350 million deal and announced a USD 700 million deal. Prior to that there was a USD 1 billion deal. So, all you are seeing is multi-year long-term contracts with BT and on the operational level, the relationship has been better.

Q: Has there been any indication to offload even part of this stake if not the entire 31%?

A: I am definitely not aware of this discussion. There are two parts of BT - one is the investment arm and one is the operational arm. Even for an investment arm, it's a strong investment, which has a promise. Non-BT business is also doing very well. BT business is going very well and we firmly have a very strong future in the company. So, it is news to me and I am not aware of any such move.

Q: Are the two quite separate - the equity investment in Tech Mahindra from BT and the business relationship because they account for two thirds of your revenues?

 

A: In the Boardroom, they are definitely linked together. On an operational level, we compete for every business and there is no special privilege granted to us when it comes to competing for the businesses. We have done extremely well with them. But on our Executive Board table, the Chief Financial Officer, the CIO and CEO of BT global services are part of the same Board. So, it is actually one company.