Altice France sells 49% stake in SFR FTTH project for EUR 1.8B

Altice France announced an exclusivity agreement with Allianz Capital Partners, AXA Investment Managers, and OMERS Infrastructure for the sale of a minority equity stake of 49.99% in SFR FTTH for a total cash consideration of €1.8 billion based on a €3.6 billion1 equity value.

SFR FTTH is the largest alternative FTTH infrastructure wholesale operator in France. The company anticipates passing 5 million homes over the next few years, including 1 million homes built by year-end. The company will offer wholesale services to all operators at the same terms and conditions including SFR as a customer with no minimum volume commitments.

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

Patrick Drahi, the founder of Altice, said: “I am very pleased that three of the most renowned infrastructure investors in the world are becoming our partners and committing large resources to build the leading FTTH wholesaler in Europe. "With this transformational transaction and the various tower sales and partnerships announced earlier this year, Altice Europe has been able to crystallize €8 billion of infrastructure value and obtain cash proceeds of €4 billion in total in a few months. Through these transactions, Altice France and Altice Europe will deleverage and will have access to new and cheaper liquidity to invest in its fibre infrastructure."