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The
total amount invested in the 2003 financial year, including
further funding of existing ventures, was £77
million, significantly lower than the £1,131 million
invested in the 2002 financial year. In the 2002 financial
year only one significant acquisition was made, being
the purchase in April 2001 of the 49.5% interest in
Esat Digifone that we did not already own, from Telenor,
for £869 million under an agreement made in early
2000.
During
the 2001 financial year, BT completed a number of acquisitions
of businesses, mainly located outside the UK. The total
amount invested, including further funding of existing
ventures, was £14,501 million.
In
April 2000, we took an equity interest, jointly with
Japan Telecom, in a number of regional Japanese mobile
phone companies (J-Phone Communications). Instead of
investing directly in J-Phone Communications, we guaranteed
bank loans to that group totalling £782 million
at 31 March 2001 that no longer apply following the
disposal. As noted above, we have now sold our interests
to Vodafone for £3.7 billion. In June 2000, we
acquired for £1,207 million our partner’s
50% interest in Telfort, the communications joint venture
which we established in the Netherlands in 1997. The
wireless business of Telfort was demerged with mmO2
in November 2001. In the 2002 financial year the remaining
goodwill was written off.
In
the final quarter of the 2001 financial year, we acquired
the 55% interest in Viag Interkom that we did not already
own. In January 2001, we acquired a 10% interest in
Viag Interkom including its share of the German third
generation licence from Telenor for £1,611 million,
and in February 2001, we acquired the remaining 45%
interest from E.ON for £7,148 million, including
its share of the cost of the licence. Goodwill of £4,992
million arose on these transactions. In the light of
falling equity valuations for wireless companies in
the 2001 financial year, we carried out impairment reviews
of the carrying values of Viag Interkom and other major
wireless interests at that time. As discussed above,
we recognised a £3,000 million goodwill impairment
in Viag Interkom of which £200 million related
to the fixed network business remaining in the BT Group
after the mmO2 demerger. In the 2002 financial year
the remaining goodwill was written off.
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