French cableco Numericable has finalised its acquisition of local MVNO Virgin Mobile just a few days after securing regulatory approval for the deal.
The €325m (US$443.7m) transaction was initially agreed in late June and will enable Numericable to…
French cableco Numericable has finalised its acquisition of local MVNO Virgin Mobile just a few days after securing regulatory approval for the deal.
The €325m (US$443.7m) transaction was initially agreed in late June and will enable Numericable to add 1.7 million mobile subscribers to its customer base.
The cable operator, owned by Luxembourg-based telecoms group Altice, entered exclusive negotiations in mid-May with Virgin Mobile’s owners, which included UK telecoms retailer Carphone Warehouse and the Virgin Group.
French conglomerate Vivendi, which recently completed the sale of its mobile arm SFR to Numericable, will contribute €200m of the €325m purchase price. Altice has said Vivendi’s participation will enhance the value of its 20% stake in the Numericable-SFR entity.
Altice, owned by billionaire Patrick Drahi, has been busy building up its assets this year. Besides the Virgin Mobile deal and the €13bn Numericable-SFR merger, the holding company is in exclusive talks with Brazilian telco Oi to buy its Portuguese assets and potentially combine them with its existing operations in the country.
Altice is also present in Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Israel and the Caribbean.
