Altice Europe is preparing to sell a stake in its fibre network business in Portugal, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. An auction process is expected to kick off within a fortnight, the report said.
Altice recently took a similar step in France, selling a 49.99 percent stake in SFR FTTH to three investment funds for EUR 1.8 billion. The group has hired Lazard to sound out potential bidders for the Portuguese assets, including US funds KKR and Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners, the three sources said.
Information packages on the Portuguese network are expected to be dispatched in the next couple of weeks detailing how Altice will split costs and margins between its telecom services division and cable network in Portugal, the report said.
The fibre network passed 4.37 million homes at the end of September 2018, up from 3.91 million a year earlier. The company is steadily expanding coverage to reach a nationwide target of 5.3 million homes passed by 2020.
Morgan Stanley’s infrastructure arm bought 75 percent of Altice’s Portuguese towers business last year in tandem with Horizon Equity Partners and it is seen as a strong contender in the upcoming sale, the sources said. Other possible bidders include investment funds Ardian, Macquarie Group and I Squared Capital which tried to buy a stake in Altice’s French cable unit last year but lost to a consortium of Allianz Capital Partners, AXA Investment Managers and OMERS Infrastructure.
