British American Tobacco (BTI.US) launched a £1.6 billion ($2 billion) buyback program after selling part of its shares in India's ITC company.
The Zhitong Finance App learned that British American Tobacco (BTI.US) launched a £1.6 billion (US$2 billion) repurchase program after selling some of its shares in India's ITC company. British American Tobacco said on Monday that the total net proceeds from the sale of ITC shares were £1.57 billion, and the company will buy back up to £1.6 billion of shares this year and next. British American Tobacco said it will buy back 700 million pounds of shares in 2024 and 900 million pounds of shares by the end of 2025.
The company still owns 25% of ITC's shares. According to information, ITC is India's largest cigarette manufacturer and also operates many other businesses including food and packaging.
British American Tobacco has been under pressure to return more cash to shareholders. The company recently wrote down the value of its American cigarette brands by more than £27 billion as more smokers switch to alternatives such as e-cigarettes.
British American Tobacco CEO Tadeu Marroco said over the weekend that the company had ruled out the possibility of going public in the US because this “would cause a lot of internal disruptions.” Earlier, an activist shareholder called for British American Tobacco to withdraw from the London stock market and go public in the US.