BT CEO says no plan to change acquisition strategy

TOKYO, Mar 7 (Reuters) BT Group Plc has no plans to slow down or alter its strategy for acquisitions given the company's profitable performance in the past two years, its chief executive said on Wednesday.

''We have a very successful track record in M&A, and I see absolutely no reason to change that,'' BT Chief Executive Ben Verwaayen told a media briefing in Tokyo.

In the past two years, BT, a former British phone monopoly, has bought 18 companies in countries including the United States, Italy and India in a wide range of sectors such as IT solutions, security and telecoms.

''Our big interest is in the U.S. today, and also France,'' Francois Barrault, the president of BT International, told Reuters after the news conference.

The company has also been expanding into new services such as wireless Internet and network solutions services to combat falling voice call revenues and a rapid shift to mobile communications.

BT's focus in M&A is not necessarily shifting towards non-telecoms firms, Barrault said, citing its recent efforts in Italy as an example.

In December 2004, BT said it would buy out shares in local operator Albacom, raising its stake to 700 million euros (8.8 million) from 40 million euros.

BT went on to seal a 0 million deal with Fiat, and bought the carmaker's telecoms unit Altanet. It also raised its stake in local network provider I.Net last month.

In Italy, ''we go from 40 million (euros) to 1 billion (euros) in one year, and that includes a range of interests'', Barrault said.

The past investments have ''done better than our internal business plan said'', CEO Verwaayen said.

Verwaayen said one of the reasons for BT's success in M&A is that the acquisitions have been in business areas familiar to it.

He said the size of each purchase has been manageable, which has made integration efficient and beneficial to the acquirer.

''We don't do M&A for the sake of expansion,'' Verwaayen said.

''We do M&A only where we can see it as enhancing our existing strategies, and so to speed up our existing strategies.'' The executives are in Tokyo for a regular meeting of BT's advisory board.

REUTERS CS PM1638