Numericable-SFR makes bid for Bouygues Telecom

Bouygues Telecom

Altice-backed French telco Numericable-SFR has made an offer to acquire Bouygues Telecom, Altice has confirmed.

Iliad Group, the owner of rival telco Free, has confirmed it is in exclusive talks with Numericable-SFR to acquire a part of Bouygues’ assets, which would be conditional on a deal between Numericable-SFR and Bouygues going through. The divestment of some assets is seen as necessary to secure regulatory approval for a deal, which would see the number of French national integrated telecom service providers reduced from four to three.

According to local reports, Altice is ready to spend up to €10.1 billion to secure a deal, which would give Bouygues a proportionally much greater valuation than SFR’s when it was acquired by Altice and Numericable last year and double the amount reportedly previously offered by Iliad Telecom for Bouygues.

The board of Bouygues, which has so far maintained that it is set on continuing as an independent operator, is expected to discuss the offer tomorrow.