British American Tobacco Sells 2.5% Stake in Indian Conglomerate ITC for $1.42 Billion
The company plans to start the latest part of share buybacks Thursday
British American Tobacco BATS 0.39%increase; green up pointing triangle said it sold a 2.5% shareholding in Indian conglomerate ITC for 1.05 billion pounds ($1.42 billion), more than initially planned.
The FTSE 100 cigarette maker–which houses the Kent, Dunhill and Lucky Strike brands–said Wednesday that it completed the sale of 313 million shares in ITC via an accelerated book-build process.
The company said on Tuesday that it was planning to sell a 2.3% stake in ITC.
BAT, which previously held 25.4% of ITC, reiterated that it will use the money raised to extend its buyback program by an extra 200 million pounds. This will take the total amount to be bought this year to 1.1 billion pounds.
The company plans to start the latest part of share buybacks Thursday and expects to complete it by the end of this year.
Source: www.wsj.com
