NEW YORK (AP) — Vivendi said Saturday it will sell SFR, the
No. 2 mobile phone operator in France, to media company Altice in a deal
that could eventually be worth more than $23 billion.
Altice owns
the French cable operator Numericable. Vivendi wants to focus on its
other businesses, Universal Music Group and Canal+ pay television.
The
sale comes as the European telecommunications industry tries to
consolidate: There are about 150 major operators in Europe compared with
four in the U.S.
Vivendi said Altice’s bid is worth 13.5 billion
euros ($18.5 billion) at closing. The deal also includes an additional
payment of 750 million euros ($1.03 billion) if certain conditions are
met. Vivendi will keep a 20 percent stake in SFR and said it may sell
those holdings at a later date. It said that sale would bring the total
proceeds to more than 17 billion euros ($23.3 billion).
Vivendi
said Saturday that SFR and Numericable don’t compete with each other.
That could improve the chances regulators will approve the transaction.
French conglomerate Bouygues also wanted to buy SFR, but some analysts
said regulators might object to that deal because the French mobile
market would have been dominated by two companies.
Vivendi entered
exclusive negotiations with Altice in March. Bouygues offered as much
as 15 billion euros ($20.6 billion) for SFR on Friday.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights
reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.