Altice nets almost €2BN in SFR divestment
Details
Joseph O'Halloran
| 01 December 2018

As it bid to maintain and expand its assets in the US and Europe, cable company Altice’s French subsidiary has raised €1.8billion in cash though the sale of a minority equity stake of 49.99% in its SFR FTTH business.

With five million homes to be passed — including a million homes built by the end of 2018 — and more to be franchised or acquired, SFR claims to be the largest alternative FTTH infrastructure wholesale operator in France.

The deal with Allianz Capital Partners (ACP), AXA Investment Managers - Real Assets, acting on behalf of its clients and OMERS Infrastructure places an equity value of €3.6 billion on the fibre-to-the-home firm. In addition to the cash raised, the transaction — which is expected to close in the first half of 2019 — also offers SFR a new line of credit.

The transaction is said to be the first of its type in Europe leading to the creation of one of the largest European FTTH wholesalers in Europe. SFR FTTH expects to deploy fibre ‘massively’ over the next four years and cover more than 15 million homes in France and intend to expand further its network.

Following the sale, Altice France will sell technical services to SFR FTTH for the construction, the subscriber connection and the maintenance of its FTTH network. The company has guaranteed to sell wholesale services to all operators at the same terms and conditions including SFR as customer with no minimum volume commitments.

Commenting on the transaction, Altice founder Patrick Drahi said: “I am very pleased that three of the most renowned infrastructure investors in the world are becoming our partners and committing large resources to build the leading FTTH wholesaler in Europe. With this transformational transaction and the various tower sales and partnerships announced earlier this year, Altice Europe has been able to crystallise €8 billion of infrastructure value and obtain cash proceeds of €4 billion in total in a few months.

"Through these transactions, Altice France and Altice Europe will deleverage and will have access to new and cheaper liquidity to invest in its fibre infrastructure. This transaction is creating huge value for our group, providing more fibre to our customers and more revenues and liquidities to our companies. Thanks to its fibre strategy, SFR will grow and deleverage from 2019.”