Altice France is selling a group of investors a 49.99 per cent stake in SFR FTTH, a new fibre venture that will bring fibre to 5 million French premises.

Allianz Capital Partners, AXA Investment Managers and Canadian investment firm Omers Infrastructure will acquire the stake for a total cash consideration of €1.8 billion, based on a €3.6 billion equity value. SFR FTTH will sell access to its network as a wholesaler, pledging to offer the same terms to all operators, including Altice France’s SFR business, with no minimum volume commitments.

Altice founder Patrick Drahi said that the transaction, expected to close in H1 2019, will enable Altice France and Altice Europe to further reduce their net leverage ratios, while gaining access to new and cheaper lines of credit. The capex for the SFR FTTH roll-out is covered by a €1.8 billion non-recourse debt package to be deployed over the next four years, said the company.

Altice France will sell technical services to SFR FTTH for the construction, the subscriber connection and the maintenance of its FTTH network.

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Categories: Articles, Broadband, Business, FTTH, Funding, M&A, Telco