Altice (Euronext:ATC) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire 70% of the share capital in Suddenlink from existing shareholders BC Partners, CPP Investment Board and Suddenlink management for $9.1 billion. BC Partners and CPP Investment Board will retain a 30% stake in Suddenlink. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2015 once applicable regulatory approvals have been obtained.
The Altice Group, headquartered in Luxembourg, is a multinational cable and telecommunications company with a presence in France, Israel, Belgium and Luxembourg, Portugal, French West Indies/Indian Ocean Area and Dominican Republic, and Switzerland. Its other brands include Cabovisão, Numericable BeLux, Green.ch, HOT, MCS TV, Numericable-SFR, Oni, Orange Dominicana, SFR Caraïbe and Tricom. Altice recently inked a deal with Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) to deploy the vendor's CCAP gear across its multi-country footprint.
Suddenlink is the seventh largest U.S. cable operator with 1.5 million residential and 90,000 business customers. Its operations are primarily focused in Texas, West Virginia, Louisiana, Arkansas and Arizona.
In a statement, Dexter Goei, CEO of Altice, said in part: "We are very excited about the acquisition of Suddenlink and are highly committed to continue to improve network investment, customer offers and service innovation in the attractive U.S. market."
Suddenlink Chairman and CEO Jerry Kent's statement said in part, "While our strong performance has afforded Suddenlink ready access to growth capital, the backing of Altice will better position the company to gain critical scale as a major consolidator in the U.S. cable industry."