Patrick Drahi’s Altice agrees £2bn deal to buy remaining stake in French company SFR
Dutch telecoms company Altice has agreed a deal to buy the 22 per cent of French company SFR Group that it doesn’t already own for around €2.4bn (£2bn).
Patrick Drahi’s Altice said the deal, to buy out smaller investors, had been unanimously agreed to by the company boards.
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Altice, which saw its share price drop by around one per cent yesterday to €15.30, was advised by BNP Paribas and JP Morgan, and SFR by Perella Weinberg. SFR’s share price jumped five per cent to €25.23.
Altice said the deal, which is expected to complete in the fourth quarter, would “simplify the group’s ownership structure and enhance its organisational flexibility”.
The announcement comes shortly after Altice completed a deal for US firm Cablevision Systems. Last year it bought Suddenlink for around $9bn.
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Altice also yesterday announced plans for a “next step” in its industrial, commercial and financial strategy, which included making its “strategic, operational and technical capabilities available to its subsidiaries in a more centralised manner to maximise the power impact on their operational and financial performance”.
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