The operator announced its intention to sell the unit last November as part of its mission to reduce debt and concentrate on its core business.
The buyer is a private equity group, Aurelius Equity Opportunities. The value of the transaction has not been disclosed, but it is thought BT made substantially less than the £200 million it mooted last autumn.
BT Group is also gradually removing itself from various markets outside the UK as well as non-core businesses. This includes Ireland (where it is selling off its profitable buisness services operation for about £400 million) and Italy (where an accounting scandal played a large part in bringing it to its knees).
Since late July, it is thought to be looking to offload it Latin American assets for about £1 billion, and put the wheels in motion to sell off BT España in June.
Assuming these transactions go ahead, they will see BT Group withdraw from almost half the number (60) of countries it operates in.
The rationale
BT Fleet Solutions began in 2002: BT had a massive vehicle fleet of its own then, so the logic was to offer fleet management as a commercial service to others. As it stands now, the soon-to-be-renamed fleet business employs about 950 staff across the UK.
They look after more than 80,000 vehicles for more than 26 corporate customers in various sectors. diversified industries.
In the 2017-18 accounts, BT Fleet Solutions had revenues of £209.5 million.
The question is what will be the next to go in the face of mounting demands for greater investment and stagnant revenues?