Patrick Drahi, the chairman of telecoms holding Altice, expects consolidation in the French mobile market soon and hinted that his company could take part in such a process.
French conglomerate Vivendi picked Altice last week for exclusive negotiations…
Patrick Drahi, the chairman of telecoms holding Altice, expects consolidation in the French mobile market soon and hinted that his company could take part in such a process.
French conglomerate Vivendi picked Altice last week for exclusive negotiations about a potential merger between their respective units, mobile operator SFR and cableco Numericable.
Altice offered €11.75bn to Vivendi and a 32% share in the equity of the combined listed Numericable-SFR entity.
Speaking about its offer for SFR and about the French market in general, Drahi said Altice could potentially play “an active role” in consolidating the industry.
Mobile operator Bouygues Telecom and its parent Bouygues also took part in the bidding race to acquire SFR, offering Vivendi €11.3bn and a 43% stake in a Bouygues Tel-SFR combination.
After this blow, Bouygues may instead turn to latest entrant Free Mobile to discuss merger opportunities, market observers suggest. The move would consolidate the market from four to three players.
Drahi also detailed how the SFR deal would be financed, saying about €8.5bn would be raised at the operating companies’ level. The remaining €3.25bn would come from a capital increase to which Altice would subscribe at 75%.
The holding expects SFR and Numericable to be full integrated between three and nine months after closing, creating synergies of around €1bn. The transaction will be subject to approval from the French and EU regulators.
