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.

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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