Cable and telecoms group Altice announced a deal to sell its operations in Belgium and Luxembourg to Telenet Group for an enterprise value of €400 million.
The move comes as the company places an increasing focus on its larger operations in the US, where it is reportedly mulling an IPO, and France with mobile operator SFR.
For Telenet, the deal allows it to step up its convergence efforts, following its acquisition of mobile operator Base, concluded at the start of this year.
Altice’s two units, dubbed SFR BeLux, will see Telenet expand its cable presence across Belgium and parts of the Belgian region of Wallonia, with around 90,000 new subscribers. In Luxembourg, it will add 15,000.
Telenet said in a statement It has been “pursuing a strategy” of becoming a leader in converged connected entertainment and B2B services, and it will now give its customers in Belgium access to video, internet, fixed and mobile services.
John Porter, Telenet CEO, said the aim was to establish “the best” fixed and mobile networks in Belgium.
“Following the Base acquisition that was concluded in the beginning of the year, we have entered a new phase of growth and this acquisition is a next very important step in this strategy.”
Base is the country’s smallest of three operators, with just over 3 million connections, trailing behind Orange and market leader Proximus.
The deal will be financed through existing cash and available liquidity, and Telenet expects to achieve €16 million of annual synergies by 2021.
The deal is still subject to Belgian regulatory approval, which it expects to clear in a few months.
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