The Netherlands-based telecommunications and cable company Altice has announced that it now has 95.9 percent of the shares in its French SFR subsidiary, and it wants to buy out the rest.
The move looks like a bit of house-cleaning before Alice's founder, the Israeli-French billionaire Patrick Drahi, turns his attention to the grander vision of expanding in the U.S..
The two pieces of news bumped up Altice's share price on the Amsterdam stock exchange by 2.2 percent on Thursday morning.
Ahead of its U.S. IPO, Altice USA had said it believes "the U.S. broadband communications and video services market offers a number of attractive opportunities to grow our business through strategic acquisitions."
Charter's largest shareholder, the Liberty Media group of John Malone which holds around 21%, has said it will listen to any reasonable offers as its plots out a long-term future for its investment.
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- Altice raises stake in SFR and plans full buyout offerReuters
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- Altice ups stake in SFR to 95.9%, plans new buyout offerTelecompaper (subscription)
- Sacré Bleu! French Telco Wants to Buy CharterChannel Partners
- Telecom giant Altice considers making offer for CharterNews Chief
