SFR/Numericable: Vivendi granted put option on 50% of shareholding
Listed French cable operator Numericable is understood to have granted listed French media group Vivendi a put option as part of the proposed merger with mobile phone operator SFR, French daily Le Figaro reported. Numericable is offering EUR 11bn cash and a 32% stake in the merged Numericable/SFR entity. The report claimed that Vivendi could have requested and obtained an option to sell about half of its 32% stake to Numericable. The report also added that Vivendi could get the cash from Numericable by July or August 2014, as the Competition Authority would take little time to review the deal
The report added that the supervisory board of Vivendi scheduled a meeting on 14 March to examine the offers from Numericable and from Bouygues Telecom. The Bouygues Telecom bid includes EUR 10.5bn cash and a 46% stake in a merged Bouygues Telecom/SFR entity, with an option for Vivendi to sell 15% of the shares once the entity has been listed.
The report also cited comments made by Xavier Niel, head and owner of French ISP and mobile phone operator Iliad-Free, who said that the offer for Bouygues was good for competition, for the market, and for France. He added that in both situations, the French mobile phone market would end up with three operators, the only difference is that it would be attained via the slow death of Bouygues Telecom with the Numericable/SFR deal.
Iliad just announced an agreement for exclusive negotiations with Bouygues and Bouygues Telecom with a view to purchasing both a portfolio of 2G/3G/4G frequencies and Bouygues Telecom’s mobile telephony network for a sum that could go up to EUR 1.8bn. This transaction will only go through if the takeover of SFR by Bouygues is complete, and the necessary authorisations have been obtained.
The report noted that after several announcements were made this weekend, shares in Bouygues SA rose by 8.66% and shares in Iliad-Free by 11.14% yesterday Monday, while the shares in Numericable fell by 12.39% in the same day and by 17% since the offer for SFR was announced last week.
Source Le Figaro