For the second time in two days, Patrick Drahi, the founder and controlling shareholder of Altice, spoke on Tuesday August 8, during a conference with investors, to reassure on the consequences of the arrest in Portugal of his partner Armando Pereira in connection with an alleged corruption case.
According to him, his executive functions in the telecom and media company were limited: Mr. Pereira was only managing director of Altice France (SFR, BFM-TV) in 2018 and played at that time. “a key role in relaunching the group’s activities and building our operator in optical fiber XPFibre”, explained Mr. Drahi. And if he advised Mathieu Cocq, the CEO of SFR, after taking office in August 2022, Mr. Pereira’s mission in this transition phase was completed as planned at the end of July.
As for the ten subcontracting companies of SFR involved in the investigation of the Portuguese justice, they represent only 2% of the total volume of purchases of Altice France. If it were proven that they were inflating their prices, to the detriment of SFR and to the benefit of those close to Mr. Pereira, as the Portuguese justice suspects, the potential damage for the operator would be only 0.5% of total purchases. , added Mr. Drahi. Pragmatically, the manager even sees an advantage in this case: the disputed contracts, almost all of which have already been stopped, will be taken over by other subcontractors, under better pricing conditions, which will reduce supply costs. from Altice France.
23.8 billion euros of net debt
If he sees the good side of things, Mr. Drahi knows that the Portuguese affair makes the financial situation of his group even more acrobatic. With 23.8 billion euros in net debt at the end of June 2023, 500 million more than three months earlier, Altice France cannot afford to lose the confidence of its creditors. The telecom and media group cannot see its business deteriorate either if it wants to continue to repay its debt. “My number one priority is to get SFR out of debt”thus launched the founder of the group in front of the investors, assuring them of his “full commitment”.
This deleveraging will be done through asset disposals. Started at the start of the year, the sale of SFR’s data centers was to be completed this summer, but the Portuguese affair slowed down the process of ” a few weeks “, recognized, on August 8, Malo Corbin, the financial director of the Altice group. Other financial transactions are not excluded, in particular to the capital of XPFibre, to relieve the balance sheet. The group did not give the names of the other assets that could be sold, while rumors have been circulating for a few weeks that BFM-TV is being put up for sale.
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