Telecoms holdco Altice (AMS:ATC) has relocated to Amsterdam after its shareholders approved plans to create a new corporate entity with a dual-class share structure.
Luxembourg-based Altice SA has been mothballed, with its assets and liabilities…
Telecoms holdco Altice (AMS:ATC) has relocated to Amsterdam after its shareholders approved plans to create a new corporate entity with a dual-class share structure.
Luxembourg-based Altice SA has been mothballed, with its assets and liabilities transferred to Altice NV in Amsterdam, where the company will be headquartered.
Altice has added a second class of stock, allowed by the Netherlands’ corporate code, with increased voting rights. This will increase the amount of shares Altice can issue, to fund future M&A, while allowing the company’s founder and chair, Patrick Drahi, to retain control of the business.
More than 90% of Altice’s shareholders approved the proposal at a shareholder meeting held on 6 August and since then, the new A and B shares have begun trading on Euronext Amsterdam.
Investors have received three new common A shares and one common B share in the new vehicle for each of their old Altice SA shares. The A shares each have one voting right and a nominal value of one eurocent, while the B shares have 25 voting rights and a nominal value of 25 eurocents.
JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley are acting as financial advisers to Altice. Luther Law Firm and Loyens & Loeff are its legal advisors, and Atoz is providing counsel on tax issues.
Altice’s recent acquisitions have included a high level of non-investment grade debt, meaning the group is now highly leveraged. The new structure gives Altice the capacity to attempt larger takeovers.
In its Q2 results Altice disclosed net debt of €26.1bn (US$28.6bn) as of 30 June and a net debt to EBITDA ratio of 4.4x.
Speaking in a conference call on 26 June, Altice CEO Dexter Goei said the change would allow the group to carry out €50bn-plus deals should it wish. His comments came as Altice’s €10bn bid for France’s Bouygues Telecom was rebuffed. Since then, Goei has said the company had no concrete plans to make another offer.
The company has recently offloaded the mobile assets of Outremer Telecom, which serves French overseas territories, to comply with the conditions of its SFR takeover. Elsewhere, it is awaiting regulatory approval for its US$9.1bn acquisition of 70% of US cableco Suddenlink.
