Altice French fibre operations has Mirova, Macquarie and KKR as frontrunners
Investment funds Mirova from France, KKR [NYSE: KKR] from the US, and Australia’s Macquarie [ASX: MQG] are believed to be the frontrunners in the auction for the French fibre infrastructure of listed pan-European telecoms group Altice Europe [ATC:NA], French daily Les Echos reported.
The report, which did not reveal its source of information, said that other potential buyers include I Squared, Allianz [ETR: ALV], GIC, CDPQ, and Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (Omers). The report noted that KKR already signed a deal with Altice regarding the group’s telecoms towers in France, acquiring 49.9% of SFR Tower Company earlier this year.
Altice is keen to retain the majority control of the business in an auction that could value the company at between EUR 2bn and EUR 3.8bn, a person in the know claimed. Another source said that the amount mentioned seemed “abnormally excessive". The report noted that initial figures amounted to between EUR 1.5bn and EUR 3bn.
The financial partnership is aimed at accelerating the deployment of the fibre infrastructure in France, as Altice vowed to the French government the installation of 5m sockets, including 2.6m in mediumly-populated areas within two years.