Altice France announces that it is entering into exclusive negotiations with the CMA CGM Group for the sale of Altice Media, which includes, among other things, the BFM and RMC brands. The amount of the transaction is 1.55 billion euros, in cash.
The owner of the operator SFR, riddled with debt, is selling more and more assets. The objective, for Patrick Drahi, is to recover cash to repay numerous debts which would exceed 60 billion euros.
“Close and friendly relations for many years”
When the Altice Media group was acquired in 2015, the company was valued at around 605 million euros. The operation, once regulatory authorizations have been obtained, should be finalized during the summer of 2024.
Patrick Drahi explains that he has maintained “close and friendly relations for many years” with Rodolphe Saadé, the boss of CMA CGM. Until recently, he also had a long-standing friendship with Armando Pereira, the man responsible for a legal scandal that now tarnishes the group’s reputation.
Last week, the national financial prosecutor’s office opened an investigation in France targeting the Altice group, following the arrest in July 2023 in Portugal of the group’s former number 2. Armando Pereira is suspected of fraud, corruption and money laundering, at the expense of Altice.
After data centers, the media
He is accused of having set up a commission system by favoring Portuguese companies controlled by relatives of Pereira and responsible for providing services to entities of the Altice group. Patrick Drahi claims to have been “betrayed” by his ex partner.
This scandal comes as the group is counting on the sale of several important assets of the Altice group to pay off more than 60 billion euros of debt accumulated over the last ten years following the acquisition strategy carried out by Altice.
As of November 2023, the company had already sold 257 of its data centers to the bank Morgan Stanley to reduce the debt of the Altice group.
In October 2023, by raising a new loan of 800 million euros, Altice International also managed to postpone the repayment of most of its debt by two years. A breath of fresh air which should allow him to negotiate the sale of assets more calmly. It’s done with Altice Media.