CMA CGM announced on Friday that it had acquired Patrick Drahi’s group, Altice Média, including BFMTV and RMC. The owner of the operator SFR, riddled with debt, is selling more and more assets.
The largest French shipowner and third-largest player in maritime transport, CMA CGM, announced this Friday, March 15, 2024, that it had signed a promise to purchase with Altice Media. The operation, which should amount to 1.55 billion euros, includes the purchase of the BFMTV and RMC brands. Patrick Drahi, who will also get rid of La Poste Mobile and its 2 million customers, continues to downsize, making SFR’s parent company a little more lonely.
Rodolphe Saadé and CMA CGM build a small media empire by buying Altice Media
This is rather resounding information in the media world. Rodolphe Saadé’s CMA CGM group, based in Marseille, will seize 80% of the capital of Altice Media, owner of the RMC, RMC Story, RMC Découverte, RMC Sport, BFMTV, BFM Business and BFM Régions brands.
In detail, the remaining 20% of the capital will be bought by Merit France, the Saadé family holding company, which also has its headquarters in the Marseille city. The CMA CGM group is in the process of establishing a media center of a certain magnitude, with very well-known media already falling into its hands, such as Provence, The gallery, Corsica Morning and the Tribune Sunday.
“ Together, we will be able to address the major challenges of innovation and economic, societal and territorial transformation on all broadcast channels and to all audiences. », Explains Rodolphe Saadé on Friday.
Meanwhile, Patrick Drahi, boss of SFR, is still downsizing
Patrick Drahi, for his part, will realize a nice added value. When the Altice Media group was purchased in 2015, the company was valued at around 605 million. The billionaire should more than double the stake, but not necessarily out of joy.
The objective, for Patrick Drahi, is to recover as much liquidity as possible to cover its debts (and the resulting interest), which would exceed 60 billion euros. The operation must however be validated, as required by procedure, by the various competent authorities.
A question now arises: what future does Patrick Drahi have in store for SFR? The operator in the red square, which has just put an end to the practice of promotional periods for its internet boxes, is also suffering the crisis, and no one yet knows how long it will avoid the storm, the real one.
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