The holding company founded by billionaire Patrick Drahi has confirmed it will make an offer for the Portuguese telecoms group.
Portugal Telecom merged with Oi, the Brazilian telecoms group, last year. Altice said it had made "a binding, fully financed offer to purchase the Portuguese assets of Portugal Telecom from Oi."
It added in its statement:
The offer submitted by Altice values these assets at an enterprise value of €7.025 billion on a cash and debt free basis, which includes a €400 million earn-out related to the future revenue generation of Portugal Telecom and a €400 million earn-out related to the future generation of Operating Free Cash Flow (EBITDA less Capex). If this offer is accepted, the transaction net of financial debt and other purchase price adjustments would be financed by new debt and existing cash from Altice.
Altice recently concluded a deal to buy SFR, the French mobile phone operator. It already owns cable businesses Cabovisao and Oni in Portugal and a purchase of Portugal Telecom would enable it to drive consolidation in the market.