Patrick Drahi, owner of SFR, could quickly have in his hands an offer of 6 or 7 billion euros to sell XpFibre. The Altice subsidiary, which manages fiber optic networks, could bring in big profits.
The sales continue at Altice, the parent company of SFR. After putting La Poste Mobile and its 2 million customers up for sale, then selling Altice Média (BFMTV and RMC) to the giant CMA CGM for 1.5 billion euros last month, Patrick Drahi could get rid of XpFibre, the leading operator French infrastructure. The Ardian company is in the running, with a buyout that could rise to 7 billion euros. However, the telecoms magnate could decline such an offer.
XpFibre, the company of the giant Altice which deploys optical fiber in less dense areas, is the object of desire
Ardian, a French private equity firm that manages $164 billion in assets around the world, is considering making an offer to Altice, according to Bloomberg, to buy XpFibre. The proposal could value the company formerly known as SFR FTTH, between 6 and 7 billion euros.
XpFibre, the majority of whose capital (50.01%) is held by Altice France (the remainder belonging to Axa, Allianz and the Canadian fund Omers), builds, operates and maintains fiber optic networks for the benefit of local authorities. These networks are located in what we call AMII, RIP, AMEL zones, in other words certain more remote or lower density zones.
In AMII zones (Call for expression of investment intention), that is to say moderately dense zones, XpFibre is responsible for deploying 2.6 million sockets, all on its own funds. And it turns out that the company is today, like the Altice group as a whole, very indebted.
Patrick Drahi hopes for more than 6 or 7 billion euros
At the end of last year, XpFibre had a debt of around 2.5 billion euros. Patrick Drah does not hesitate to part with the company and therefore part of the group’s optical fiber, to save some of its priority brands, such as SFR, and satisfy its lenders, to whom he recently asked to waive part of their debts.
Except that in this probable approach by Ardian, there is something of a catch. Patrick Drahi would hope to earn 10 billion euros from the shares he holds in XpFibre, enough to cover a good part of Altice France’s 22 billion euros of debt (60 billion euros for the group as a whole) . So we are quite far from the mark, for the moment.
If he wants to convince Ardian to up the ante, Patrick Drahi will have to pull out his best bluff. A few weeks ago, several investment funds, including KKR (which would be in pole position at this stage), Macquarie Group and even the Caisse des Dépôts du Québec, showed an interest. The billionaire who likes to play with fire could take advantage of this to raise the stakes. At his own risk.
Source : Bloomberg
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