Altice Europe is expected to withdraw next week

The ongoing saga of French billionaire Patrick Drahi’s attempt to take Altice Europe privately looks set to enter its final chapter next week.

Next Private, the vehicle used by Drahi to buy out minority shareholders of the indebted telecommunications company, announced that Altice Europe’s offer was “unconditional” and said that around 90.89% of the shares were not yet owned by Next Private have been made.

Once the offer has been settled at a price of 5.35 ($ 6.52) per share, with a total value of over $ 3.1 billion ($ 3.78 billion), Drahi will hold 95 , 11% of listed shares. In total, he will hold 92.02% of the total issued capital of Altice Europe.

Last obstacle: the French billionaire Patrick Drahi is about to take over private Altice Europe.
(Source: Ecole polytechnique on Flickr CC 2.0)

The last day for Altice Europe shares to be listed on Euronext Amsterdam will be January 26, after which the company will eventually be delisted and a complex merger will take place to create the “new” Altice Europe BV

Stretched case

The process took longer than Drahi anticipated when he first announced the offer in September of last year.

At the time, he offered $ 2.5 billion ($ 3 billion) to buy out minority shareholders, or 4.11 ($ 5.01) per share. However, hedge fund Lucerne Capital Management said its offer was opportunistic and significantly undervalued the telecommunications company.

After Lucerne and other minority shareholders took the case to an Amsterdam court, Drahi relented and increased the offer to 5.35 euros per share. As a result, the petitions submitted to the court by Lucerne and other funds were withdrawn.

Drahi officially launched his plan to privatize Altice Europe on November 24. At the time, he indirectly held approximately 77.58% of the issued share capital of Altice Europe.

Next Private and Altice Europe have said that “making Altice Europe operate without minority shareholders and without listing on Euronext Amsterdam (or any other stock exchange) is better for the sustainable success of its business and the creation of long-term value”.

Altice Europe owns SFR in France and MEO in Portugal, as well as other operations in Israel and the Dominican Republic.

It recently reported a reasonably strong performance in the third quarter, with revenue and EBITDA growth at the group level and in its two main markets.

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?? Anne Morris, Editor-in-Chief, Special at Light Reading