Vivendi's board has unanimously chosen to sell French mobile and broadband operator SFR to cable company Numericable, rather than to Bouygues Telecom. The purchase price is EUR 13.5 billion cash plus a 20 percent stake in the combined SFR-Numericable. Vivendi will receive another EUR 750 million if the new company meets profitability targets.
The deal means that France will continue to have four MNOs, Orange, SFR, Bouygues and Free Mobile. By joining Numericable, SFR adds a large installed base of fixed-line customers to its traditional mobile business. The board cited the synergies to be gained from combining the two networks, customer benefits based on fixed-mobile convergence, a lower risk of competition issues compared to a merger with Bouygues, and the best overall value from the sale, which values SFR at more than EUR 17 billion in cash and shares.
Numericable's parent company Altice will own 60 percent of the new entity, and the free-float will be 20 percent. Altice said it might consider raising up to an additional EUR 550 million equity to help finance the overall transaction. The new SFR-Numericable group will remain headquartered in France and listed on the Paris stock exchange.
