Multinational cableco Altice has raised a total of €1.5bn from its initial public offering after Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley exercised their over-allotment option in full.
The greenshoe saw another 6.9 million shares released at €28.25 per…
Multinational cableco Altice has raised a total of €1.5bn from its initial public offering after Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley exercised their over-allotment option in full.
The greenshoe saw another 6.9 million shares released at €28.25 per share, on top of the initial 26.5 million it issued on 31 January. The extra stock comes in the form of existing shares which were held by Next LP, a vehicle of Altice founder Patrick Drahi.
Next LP already disposed of 19.6 million shares in the IPO for €555m, meaning Drahi has now raised a total of €750m from the flotation. Altice had also issued 26.5 million new shares, again for €750m.
Now that the option has been exercised 26.2% of Altice’s share capital is floating on the Euronext in Amsterdam, under the ATC ticker symbol. Next LP retains 69.5% of the company while Penta LP holds the remaining 4.2%. The IPO has valued the Luxembourg-based telco at €5.7bn.
In addition to Goldman and Morgan Stanley, which acted as joint global coordinators, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, and HSBC acted as joint bookrunners, while Credit Agricole and ING were joint lead managers.
Completes Numericable stake increase
Altice has also completed its acquisition of a further 10% of Numericable from funds affiliated with private equity groups Cinven and Caryle, taking its stake from 30% to 40%.
It agreed to pay €317m for 12.4 million additional shares in the French cableco towards the end of last year.
Altice now has the majority of votes on Numericable’s board and has consolidated the company into the larger Altice group.
The Luxembourg-based telco had only recently raised its stake in Numericable during its €750m IPO in early November, taking its holding from 24% to 30%.
Following the listing 24.4% of Numericable’s stock is free-float. Altice owns 40%, Fiberman has 0.9%, and PE firms Carlyle and Cinven hold the rest.
In 2013 Altice recorded €1.1bn in pro forma adjusted EBITDA for the first nine months of the year and made a number of additions to its portfolio, most notably in the Caribbean with its US$1.4bn purchase of Orange Dominicana.
Altice has operations in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Portugal, Switzerland, Israel, a number of French Overseas Territories, and the Dominican Republic.
Altice made its first acquisition in 2002 and says it has completed 20 deals overall, including 13 in the last five years.
