Numericable Preparing Cash Offer for Vivendi's SFR - Report

Private-equity owned French cable operator Numericable is preparing a cash offer for Vivendi SA's (VIV.FR) telecom operator SFR, French TV BFM reports on its website Monday, citing unidentified sources.

Talks between Numericable and Vivendi about a possible merger of the two telecom companies have stalled, which is why Numericable is now working on a bid to buy SFR entirely in cash and to then possibly merge the two at a later stage, according to the report.

A spokeswoman for Numericable wasn't immediately available to comment on the report.

A spokesman for Vivendi repeated that "SFR is not for sale." Vivendi is studying other options for SFR, such as network sharing.

Vivendi is in the midst of a deep strategic review, as part of which it has moved to refocus on media assets, rather than telecoms, and which could include asset sales. Vivendi is actively looking to sell its Brazilian telecom arm GVT and its 53% stake in African phone operator Maroc Telecom. It is also studying potential offers to merge SFR with others, people familiar with the matter have said.

Newspaper website: http://www.bfmtv.com

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