Altice to Sell Belgium, Luxembourg Business to Telenet -- Update

By Nick Kostov

PARIS--Telecommunications group Altice NV (ATC.AE) said Thursday it will sell its Belgium and Luxembourg business to Telenet Group BVBA in a transaction that values the assets at 400 million euros ($417.5 million).

The sale to Telenet Group BVBA--a subsidiary of Telenet Group Holding NV (TNET.BT)--marks a rare disposal for Altice which has been best-known for a string of eye-catching acquisitions since 2014, including deals for Cablevision Systems Corp. in the U.S. and SFR in France.

It is the first time that Altice founder Patrick Drahi has chosen to dispose of one of his units himself and points to a strategy of focusing on his larger assets since he expanded his business to the U.S. a year ago. Until now, Mr. Drahi had only sold assets when forced to do so by regulators, for example in Portugal when he bought the country's former telecom monopoly.

Altice aims to have the most-or second-most-customers in each of the countries it operates. The company last year lost out to Liberty Global PLC (LBTYA) in the EUR1.3 billion bidding war for Base, Belgium's third biggest mobile operator, leaving it with no clear path into the top two in Belgium.

Mr. Drahi acquired Coditel Brabant in 2003 for EUR82 million and rebranded it SFR Belgium years later. Altice's business in Belgium and Luxembourg made core earnings of EUR51 million in 2015 on revenue of EUR75 million, according to the Altice website. It has 110,000 cable customers.

Earlier this month, Altice said that it was considering an initial public offering of a minority interest in its U.S. operations--which now count 4.6 million customers across 20 states--as it looks to raise money to expand the cable business it created by buying Cablevision and Suddenlink.

The sale of Altice's Belgium and Luxembourg business will be subject to regulatory review by the Belgian authorities.

(William Horobin contributed to this article.)

-Write to Nick Kostov at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 22, 2016 03:14 ET (08:14 GMT)

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