French cableco Numericable is to launch a previously-announced €4.7bn (US$5.98bn) issue of new shares at the end of the week to part-fund its acquisition of mobile operator SFR.
From 31 October to 12 November 2014, the company will offer 15 new shares…
French cableco Numericable is to launch a previously-announced €4.7bn (US$5.98bn) issue of new shares at the end of the week to part-fund its acquisition of mobile operator SFR.
From 31 October to 12 November 2014, the company will offer 15 new shares for every seven existing ones at €17.82 each.
The subscription price represents a 62.96% discount to the shares’ closing price on 27 October 2014 and a 35.1% discount to the theoretical ex-right price.
Altice, which owns 74.59% of Numericable, and its subsidiary Fiberman will subscribe pro rata to the offering, representing 75.51% of the issuance.
The offer will be open only to the public in France and underwritten by Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan, which are also acting as joint lead managers and joint bookrunners. Natixis is co-lead manager.
In early April this year, Numericable and its parent Altice agreed to acquire SFR from French conglomerate Vivendi for €13.5bn in cash. Vivendi will own a 20% stake in the converged entity while Altice will have 60%.
At the time, Numericable said financing of the deal would include an €11.64bn debt package and a €4.7bn rights issue.
Altice and its cableco unit won approval for the SFR acquisition earlier this week, subject to a number of conditions. These include Altice having to divest certain overseas assets and Numericable making its network temporarily available to competitors.
Numericable said today that closing of the acquisition is now subject only to its shareholders approving a contribution by Vivendi of over 57 million SFR shares, after which the conglomerate will hold 20% of the merged entity. A general shareholders’ meeting on the subject is scheduled for 27 November.
The cableco expects the transaction to close before the end of the year.
