(Canard Enchaine) Bouygues a proposé de racheter SFR en mai dernier

Bouygues a proposé de racheter SFR en mai dernier
Télécoms.
D'après le Canard Enchaîné (comme l'a repéré notre journaliste Jérôme Lefilliâtre), Martin Bouygues a rencontré Patrick Drahi (propriétaire de Libération) le 29 mai pour lui proposer le rachat de 51% de SFR, 25% allant à un fonds d'investissement américain, le solde restant à Patrick Drahi. L'envie de Bouygues avait déjà été éventée en avril par Bloomberg.

Toujours d'après l'hebdomadaire, Patrick Drahi a demandé 24 milliards d'euros (pour un opérateur qu'il a racheté 17) et la moitié du nouvel ensemble fusionné Bouygues Telecom - SFR. Martin Bouygues est conseillé par Rothschild.

Evidemment, à ce prix-là, il n'y a pas d'entente possible. Mais selon le Canard Enchaîné, l'Elysée a donné son feu vert à Bouygues. On peut donc s'attendre à un second semestre agité sur le marché des télécoms.

>>> 21st Century Fox: CNBC's Faber reiterates that Comcast (CMCSA) is expected t

21st Century Fox: CNBC's Faber reiterates that Comcast (CMCSA) is expected to bid for FOXA's assets later today; media stocks higher premarket (40.54)
FOXA previously agreed to sell non-core assets to Disney (DIS) for ~$52 bln in stock.

Premarket: CMCSA -4.4%, DIS -2%, FOXA +8%
Other media stocks also higher as M&A expectations pick up following AT&T's successful bid for Time Warner (TWX): LGF.A +8.33% FOXA +8.29% CBS +4.41% DISCA +4.08

>>> US Gapping down

Gapping down
In reaction to disappointing earnings/guidance:

  • HRB -17.5%, OXM -6%, APPS -4.8%

M&A news:

  • T -4.5% (down on understanding that cash-and-stock offer for Time Warner will now go through), CMCSA -4.3% (expected to make aggressive offer to acquire FOX assets), DIS -2.2%

Other news:

  • USAC -9.1% (announces pricing of underwritten public offering of 5 mln common units for total gross proceeds to the Selling Unitholder of approximately $81 mln)
  • BHF -2.4% (announces secondary stock offering by selling shareholders)
  • CIR -0.6% (pricing of public offering of 3,283,424 shares by Colfax Corporation (CFX) at $44.25 per share), .

Analyst comments:

  • YELP -3% (downgraded to Sell from Hold at Aegis Capital)
  • LRCX -1.5% (downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital Mkts)
  • HSY -1.5% (downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse)
  • AMAT -1.3% (downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital Mkts)
  • LX -1% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman)
  • ORA -1% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Guggenheim)
  • GHDX -1% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Ladenburg Thalmann)

>>> US Gapping up

Gapping up
In reaction to strong earnings/guidance:

  • BITA +8.1%, PVTL +7.5%, WPP +2.4%, (WPP plc provides trading update at Annual General Meeting), SMG +0.8%

M&A news:

  • ENPH +35.1% (acquiring SunPower's microinverter business)
  • FOXA +7.7% (jumps as AT&T-TWX ruling will invite competing bid from Comcast for FOX assets), TWX +3.7% (up after judge gives approval for AT&T to acquire company)

Select stocks trading higher on assumption AT&T-TWX ruling will pave way for approval of their proposed merger:

  • LGF.A +7%, CBS +4.5%, VIAB +4.1%, AET +3.6%, ESRX +3.6%, CVS +2.6%, TMUS +1.6%

Other news:

  • CAH +2.7% (receives favorable vote from FDA Advisory Committee)
  • RGNX +1.3% (receives Fast Track designation for RGX-111 Gene Therapy)
  • MRK +0.9% (granted Priority Review for the sBLA for GARDASIL)

Analyst comments:

  • S +3.2% (upgraded to Outperform from Mkt Perform at Raymond James)
  • HUYA +2.5% (initiated with a Buy at Needham)
  • CTRL +1.6% (initiated with a Buy at ROTH Capital)

NYT : Comcast’s Pursuit of Fox Will Face Hurdles, Despite AT&T’s Victory

Comcast’s Pursuit of Fox Will Face Hurdles, Despite AT&T’s Victory

In the coming days, Comcast will most likely unveil its takeover bid for most of 21st Century Fox, challenging The Walt Disney Company for the same Fox entertainment assets.

Fox had turned down Comcast last year, worried that the cable giant’s bid — even though it was much higher than Disney’s — could be blocked by regulators.

But that concern was lessened on Tuesday afternoon when a federal judge approved AT&T’s $85.4 billion deal for Time Warner. While AT&T’s victory over the Justice Department means that Comcast now faces fewer regulatory issues in its pursuit of Fox, obstacles remain. Let’s take a closer look:

The context: Disney and Comcast both want the same Fox businesses. The ones that would matter to antitrust regulators are the 20th Century Fox movie and television studios, 22 regional sports networks and a stake in Hulu, the online video service.

Comcast has been waiting to make its bid for Fox until after the ruling on the Justice Department’s lawsuit to block AT&T’s bid for Time Warner. Now that AT&T has won, the cable company is expected to move quickly with a Fox offer.

A question of merger type
What Disney is considering is known as a horizontal merger, combining two companies in the same industry.

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A Comcast bid would involve elements of both a horizontal merger and a vertical merger. On the horizontal front, it would combine the Fox assets with NBCUniversal, another big media business. But on the vertical side, it would give America’s biggest cable operator yet another major content producer.

Vertical mergers have rarely run into opposition. But the Justice Department built its lawsuit against the Time Warner deal on the argument that AT&T, with its ability to both create content and distribute it, would wield too much power over the media and telecom industries.

There is a difference between AT&T and Comcast: national presence. AT&T is a truly nationwide pay-television provider through its DirecTV satellite service. While cable companies tend to have huge presences in the markets where they operate, Comcast covers only about a third of the country.

Regulators tend to think about the pay-television and broadband markets on a national basis. (The reasoning: National providers have much more negotiating leverage than regional ones.)

But it’s also worth remembering that when Comcast initially bought NBCUniversal, regulators were worried enough about combining a pay-television and broadband provider with a content creator that they demanded restrictions on Comcast’s behavior.

The Justice Department’s antitrust chief, Makan Delrahim, has said publicly that he doesn’t like imposing conditions on companies in exchange for merger approval. He prefers requiring asset sales or blocking deals altogether. Comcast is willing to sell some businesses to win approval.

A question of sports
Then there are Fox’s 22 regional sports networks. Comcast’s NBCUniversal already owns nine similar networks and would argue that the two sets of properties mostly don’t overlap. But if pressed, the company would be willing to sell enough networks to satisfy regulators, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter but not authorized to speak publicly about it.

A question of studios
A Fox sale, no matter the buyer, would inevitably create significant consolidation within the movie industry. Comcast owns Universal, which has the “Jurassic World” franchise. Fox owns its eponymous movie studio, which has the “Avatar,” “X-Men” and “Deadpool” franchises. Disney owns the top-performing Hollywood studio, home of the Marvel and “Star Wars” franchises.

But both Comcast and Disney would argue that there are enough content producers — Amazon, Apple and other digital players — that there’s little danger they would corner the market.

What the Justice Department is thinking
Mr. Delrahim discussed the possible battle for Fox at an industry conference last week. Here’s what he said of the potential state of play:

■ Speaking of vertical mergers, he said, “The antitrust division, and the Federal Trade Commission, has identified problems resulting from certain vertical acquisitions that could result in exclusion, or raising a rival’s cost that hurts competition.” Our read: Some kinds of vertical mergers still bother Mr. Delrahim to a degree, though he later allowed that those kinds of deals could be fixed.

■ On Disney and its bid, he said, “They had good advice and carved out surgically what a transaction is that might be doable and who knows where that transaction leads.” Our read: Disney may not have chosen the Fox units that it wants to buy based solely on antitrust concerns, but its deal probably won’t run afoul of Mr. Delrahim’s team.

What experts think
■ Harry First, the co-director of the competition, innovation and information law program at the New York University School of Law, said that he thought the Disney deal would pose fewer antitrust risks. “In a horizontal deal, there’s probably less risk to having the deal opposed outright,” he said in an interview.

■ But the analyst Rich Greenfield of BTIG Research wrote two weeks ago that he thought fears of antitrust blowback against Comcast were overblown.

What will Fox do?
It ultimately will be up to Fox’s board and shareholders to decide whether it’s worth trading in a Disney deal with a good chance of passing antitrust review for a higher-priced Comcast deal that poses more potential risks. With AT&T having won its fight with the Justice Department, their concerns about Comcast may be assuaged.

>>> US Early premarket gappers

Early premarket gappers

Gapping up:

  • ENPH +40.7%, BITA +10%, FOXA +7.8%, PVTL +7.5%, LGF.A +7%, TWX +4.4%, CBS +4.4%, VIAB +4.1%, AET +3.6%, SMG +3.1%, CAH +2.7%, CVS +2.6%, TMUS +1.9%, ESRX +1.7%, RGNX +1.3%, SAIC +1.2%, CI +0.8%, RH +0.6%, CCE +0.6%

Gapping down:

  • HRB -18%, USAC -9%, OXM -5.4%, APPS -4.8%, CMCSA -3.5%, T -3.2%, BHF -1.9%, DIS -1.3%, CIR -0.5%