France’s competition authority has opened an in-depth, phase II review of telecoms holding Altice’s planned acquisition of French mobile operator SFR.
The regulator said in a statement that the detailed examination is necessary because it considers…
France’s competition authority has opened an in-depth, phase II review of telecoms holding Altice’s planned acquisition of French mobile operator SFR.
The regulator said in a statement that the detailed examination is necessary because it considers that “the transaction raises serious doubts about hindering competition”.
The review is expected to last for 65 days but could be extended if needed, it said. During that time, the watchdog will consult with other players and regulators in the market to determine which remedies might need to be implemented.
In early April, Vivendi-owned SFR chose the €13.5bn offer submitted by Altice. The deal will see the holding merge the mobile player with its cableco unit Numericable to create a converged entity in which Altice will have a 60% stake.
The agreed deal followed an intense, weeks-long bidding war between Numericable and mobile operator Bouygues Telecom, which was hopeful a consolidation would stop it from steadily losing market share since the arrival of a fourth entrant, Free Mobile, in 2012.
In a statement in April, Vivendi detailed a number of reasons for choosing Numericable over Bouygues, including that “all the experts consulted concluded that the Altice/Numericable offer presents the lowest competition risks. SFR and Numericable are not present on the same market segments and their activities are complementary”.
Competition experts had earlier agreed that a merger of SFR with its direct rival Bouygues would have been subject to intense scrutiny from antitrust authorities. They also anticipated that regulators would have insisted on harsh remedies to address the impact on competition in the mobile market.
A few weeks ago, the CEO of Orange, Stephane Richard, was quoted as saying the company planned to complain to the French regulator about certain aspects of the proposed Numericable-SFR deal, which would create a direct competitor to the incumbent.
The transaction, which was expected to close by the end of the year, is unlikely to be investigated by the European regulator because it involves only French parties.
