BT's French love affair continued apace today with the announcement that it is in talks to acquire a majority stake in Paris-based IT consulting firm Net2S SA.

The British telecoms giant formerly known as, er, British Telecom said that it was hoping to buy a 68.6 per cent chunk of the business from four founding shareholders at the tech firm, which has an 800-strong workforce.

As part of the proposed deal, it has also offered to cough up shares in exchange for 5.56 million, or about 43 per cent, of Net2S shares.

As a further incentive, BT also suggested a special €5 million cash dividend be handed to Net2S shareholders before the acquisition completes equating to €0.385 a share.

Net2S which has operations in France, Europe, the United States and Morocco, saw revenue turnover of about €77 million for the year ended December 31 2006.

In recent months BT has been heavily flirting with a number of French and Belgian IT outfits including CS Communication & Systèmes, Basilica and INS.

Shares in BT are currently trading at 304.25 pence on the London Stock Exchange, down 0.41 per cent on the previous close. ®

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