SFR to disappear from stock market on October 9

Altice-owned French service provider SFR will be withdrawn from the Paris stock exchange on October 9 following Altice’s buyout of the shares in the operator that it did not already own.

French markets regulator the AMF said that Altice now owned 98.78% of the company’s capital and 98.74% of its voting rights after acquiring 12,975,220 shares on the market at a price of €34.50, implying a total cost to Altice of €447.6 million.

The move brings to a conclusion a long-running attempt by Altice to take full control of its French subsidiary.

Altice filed its buyout offer, to be followed by a squeeze-out of remaining shareholders, last month, a year after a previous attempt to take full control of the operator was rejected by the AMF on the ground that Altice had not provided sufficient information to its shareholders about the terms of the proposal.

Altice subsequently acquired SFR shares on the open market until it crossed the 95% threshold in August.

Altice is rebranding all its operations, which in Europe include SFR and Portugal Telecom/Meo. Under the Altice marque.

SFR CEO Michel Paulin announced his departure last month. Altice CEO Michel Combes will take over responsibility fo the Frnech unit and initiate a plan for  “the transformation of the company and the re-establishment of SFR’s operating performance”.

Combes has charged Altice Media and SFR Media chief Alan Weill to draw up a plan for the integration of the telecom and media teams of the operator and put in place the best organisation to integrate the operator with NextRadioTV, the media group Weill founded that is being taken over by Altice.