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☆ Altice’s beaten-up debt is only a bet for the bold
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-08 | by ( Pamela Barbaglia | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

REUTERS/Violeta Santos MouraLONDON, Aug 8 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Altice’s debt is a bet for the bold. Patrick Drahi’s telecoms group is sitting on a $60 billion debt burden, and faces rising borrowing costs and a corruption investigation. Drahi will therefore need to sell assets to cut debt, which starts to come due in 2025. Both Altice France and Altice International are trying to sell their data centre businesses, which could raise some 700 million euros, bankers say. Yet Altice France alone has some $19 billion of debt coming due by 2029.

Persons: Patrick Drahi, Violeta Santos Moura, Patrick Drahi’s, Drahi –, Armando Pereira, Altice, Drahi, “, ”, Pereira, Xavier Niel’s, Manuel Magalhaes e Silva, Altice International’s, Alexandre Fonseca, Neil Unmack, Oliver Taslic Organizations: French, REUTERS, Violeta Santos Moura LONDON, Reuters, Altice USA, Altice, Bouygues Telecom, Banco Espírito Santo, Public, Thomson Locations: Paris, France, Moroccan, Europe, United States, Portugal, Israel, Dominican Republic, Orange, Altice France, Banco Espírito, Portuguese, New York, London

Fifteen employees have been put on leave in Portugal, France and the United States since news broke about the probe, which is currently limited to Portugal, said Drahi. Pressed by analysts on the call to lay out the role and extent of Pereira's involvement within the Altice group, Drahi said Pereira, whom he hired in 2003, had not held any stake in any Altice entity since 2005. Altice International, the entity that owns telecoms firm PT Portugal, is owned by Drahi's personal holding Next. The other two entities are Altice USA and Altice France, home to France's second biggest telecoms firm SFR. The debt has come under further pressure since Pereira's July detention, with longer-term debt issued by Altice France trading around 80 cents to the euro while those of Altice France Holding trade around 40 cents to the euro.

Persons: Patrick Drahi, Violeta Santos Moura, Drahi, Armando Pereira, Pereira, Altice, Mathieu Rosemain, Yoruk Bahceli, Ingrid Melander, Silvia Aloisi, Conor Humphries Organizations: French, REUTERS, Altice, PT Portugal, Altice International, Thomson Locations: Paris, France, Portugal, United States, Altice France

☆ Factbox: Patrick Drahi, the telco tycoon facing debt woes, arrest of aide
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

* Drahi, who lives between Switzerland, the United States and Israel, controls France's second-biggest telecoms firm SFR on top of the most-watched news channel in the country, BFM TV. He also owns the largest telecoms firm in Portugal. * To ease investor concerns about the sustainability of the business, Drahi spun off the U.S. division, restructured debt and took the European arm private. * By 2023, Altice's combined debt, including its three units of Altice France, Altice International and Altice USA stood at around $60 billion. Altice's debt prices trade at stressed levels, having come under further pressure since Pereira's detention in July.

Persons: Patrick Drahi, Violeta Santos Moura, Altice, Drahi, Altice's, Armando Pereira, Pereira, Silvia Aloisi, Ingrid Melander, Sharon Singleton, Louise Heavens Organizations: French, REUTERS, Polytechnique, SFR, U.S ., Altice, Altice USA, BT, Thomson Locations: Paris, France, French, Israeli, Morocco, Drahi, Amsterdam, Belgium, Portugal, Israel, United States, Dominican Republic, Switzerland, London, New York

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