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.

BT said it would pay €5.27 a share in cash for 3.34 million Net2S shares.

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. ®