PARIS (Reuters) -Altice France said on Monday that its debt restructuring had been approved by Paris’ commercial court, which could pave the way for a sale of its French telecoms unit SFR.
Markets have speculated that Altice France would offload SFR to cut its debt as higher interest rates and a heavy debt repayment schedule weigh on the privately-held company.
In an internal email, reviewed by Reuters, Altice and SFR directors said the restructuring deal would cut Altice’s financial debt by more than 9 billion euros ($10.4 billion), reduce financial costs by nearly 400 million euros per year, and postpone upcoming repayment deadlines to between 2028 and 2033.
Altice has been in talks for months with creditors to reduce its debt from 24.1 billion euros to 15.5 billion euros, but the agreement needed court approval.
The court did not follow a public prosecutor’s request to exclude SFR from the restructuring, which could open the way for a sale, although Altice said no offers were on the table at the moment.
“No offer, not even an indicative one, has been received to date (for SFR),” the Altice and SFR directors said in their joint email.
“If we were to receive one, whatever it may be and wherever it comes from, our responsibility (and that of our shareholders) will be to study it,” they added.
The Financial Times reported last month that French telecom operators Orange, Iliad-owned Free and construction-to-telecoms conglomerate Bouygues were exploring a deal to carve out SFR from Altice.
Altice France director Arthur Dreyfuss and SFR director Mathieu Coq also said in their email that as a result of the restructuring, Altice France shareholder Patrick Drahi’s stake would fall from 100% to 55%, with the remaining 45% going to the company’s creditors.
($1 = 0.8648 euros)
(Reporting by Blandine Henault. Editing by GV De Clercq and Mark Potter)
