Altice France Races to Find Buyer as Mounting Debt Pushes SFR to the Brink

Patrick Drahi's group had announced at the end of February that it had reached an agreement with a majority of its creditors to reduce its heavy debt. The safeguard procedure is expected to finalize this agreement by the autumn.

Patrick Drahi, the owner of the operator's debt, could sell it for the benefit of his competitors Orange, Free and Bouygues.

Altice France, owner of SFR, wants to place the operator under accelerated safeguard procedure. This manoeuvre aims to restructure the group's debt in order to facilitate and accelerate the sale of SFR, negotiations with potential buyers having already begun. The aim is to finalize the safeguard operation at the beginning of the year.

Summary: Altice France enters into accelerated safeguard proceedings before the Paris commercial court to finalise the restructuring of its colossal debt of 23.7 billion euros An agreement with 90% of creditors reduces the debt by 8.6 billion euros in exchange for 45% of the capital and 1.6 billion euros in SFR cash could be sold according to market rumours, with an estimated valuation of 30 billion euros that would upset the French telecom land…

Orange will not lead the dance in case of sale of SFR, but keep an eye on the file while Starlink was also interested in it. At the general meeting of Orange this Wednesday, the general manager Christel Heydemann stated that the group would not be "manoeuvring" in the event of a sale [...] SFR's article Repurchase: Orange ensures that it will not be manoeuvring, Elon Musk would be interested has been published on Universe Freebox

Altice France initiates an accelerated safeguard procedure to impose a plan to restructure its debt. The agreement, validated by more than 90% of creditors, was blocked by a minority. By bypassing this lock, Patrick Drahi's group secures its deleveraging and prepares for the possible divestiture of SFR. In February, Altice obtained a loan from the bank. In ...