Merrill Lynch is advising British Telecommunications on the demerger of its mobile business, after managing the UK telecom firm's record-breaking rights issue and involvement in the buy-out of Yell, BT's directories business.

Merrill advised buyers Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst and Apax Partners, the private equity firms, on their £2.1bn (€3.4bn) buy-out of Yell earlier this year. In the equity market Merrill managed BT's £6bn rights offer with Cazenove in June.