The telecom tycoon and French media Patrick Drahi, 51, is out to conquer the United States by acquiring, through its Altice Group, 70% of Suddenlink Communications, a daring operation that does not diminish his appetite for new acquisitions.
Seventh US cable operator, the group is valued $ 9.1 billion by the operation.
To take possession of the company, the man Franco-Israeli businessman has bought shares to fund BC Partners and CPP Investment Board, which retain 30% of the cable operator, as well as its management.
Investors applauded this operation, title closing at the Amsterdam Stock Exchange on Wednesday an increase of 11.59% to 129 euros.
The billionaire also controls the telecoms group SFR, Numericable, has recently reinforced in the media sector by acquiring a personal 20 magazines and French sites of the Belgian Roularta including L’Express, L’Expansion and The Student, who will be a pole with Israeli chain i24 News and a majority stake in Libération.
“Our investment in Suddenlink, the first in the cable industry in the United States, opens an attractive industrial and strategic way to Altice (in the country), on one of the large and dynamic markets in the world communication “, welcomed Dexter Goei, general manager of the group, in a statement Wednesday.
The funds BC Partners and CPP were the owners since 2012 of the American group, founded in February 2003 and headquartered in St. Louis (Missouri, center), they had bought at that time 6.6 billion dollars, including debt.
The transaction will be funded to the tune of 6.7 billion dollars of debt, new and existing, of Suddenlink, a loan of $ 500 million granted by BC Partners and CPP Investment Board and $ 1.2 billion in cash to Altice, parent company of Numericable, SFR
-. Better than Xavier Niel? –
In making its entry into the United States, Patrick Drahi trumps to another troublemaker in the telecommunications sector in France, Xavier Niel, whose bid for T-Mobile US was rejected in 2014.
With Suddenlink, Altice will recover a portfolio of 1.5 million individual customers and 90,000 companies and will present in fifteen states including Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Arizona or West Virginia.
The US cable operator generated in 2014 a turnover of 2.3 billion and an EBITDA of over 900 million.
The operation also allows the European group, which has grown significantly in the last two years in the wireless and wireline telephony, returning to his first love, the cable.
“This transaction does not affect d any way our ambitions in Europe, including in France, “said during a conference call the CEO of Dexter Goei group, adding qu’Altice would also actively participate in the consolidation of cable operators in the US .
The group eyeing on larger prey as the second US cable operator Time Warner Cable (TWC) with 11 million subscribers and a presence in cities like New York or Los Angeles, said a source close to the matter told AFP.
Contacts have been established. But we must first complete the takeover of Suddenlink, presumably in the fourth quarter once the regulatory approvals obtained.
TWC is recovering from the failure of its planned merger with its rival and number one US Comcast, hampered by concerns of competition authorities.
Since then, TWC is the focus of maneuvers.
The current number four market Charter Communications, whose largest shareholder holding company Liberty Media billionaire John Malone, approached the group.
If the interest of Mr. Drahi for TWC is confirmed, it will face his mentor Mr. Malone for whom he worked in the past.
Any transaction will be scrutinized by the department of Justice (DoJ) and the telecoms regulator (FCC).
The appetite of the French entrepreneur has allowed him to build a European telecom giant and the media, employing nearly 30,000 people in fifteen countries and with some 30 million subscribers.
The list of acquisitions has continued to grow in recent months. It is now in sole command of the operator SFR, Numericable. He bought Virgin Mobile and added Brazilian Portuguese Oi assets in his wallet and an operator in the Dominican Republic.
The businessman is also interested in the number of three French Bouygues Telecom Telecommunications .
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