Altice Europe reportedly mulling sale of Israel operation

Altice Europe is mulling a possible sale of its operation in Israel, HOT, according to Reuters, citing unnamed sources.

According to Reuters, the telco has hired Morgan Stanley to study different options for the Israeli asset, with Altice boss Patrick Drahi’s needing to secure funds for the rollout of 5G in France.

Morgan Stanley has been tasked with sounding out interest from investors in the unit, but a decision to sell is not guaranteed, according to Reuters’ sources.

Altice’s Israeli operation, which posted turnover of €4.208 billion in 2017, could be valued at around US$1 billion, according to the news agency’s sources.

Altice has taken a series of steps to address investor concern about its indebtedness.

The company recently agreed the sale of a 49.99% stake in its French fibre network to a consortium comprising Allianz Capital Partners, AXA Investment Managers – Real Assets and OMERS Infrastructure last year in a deal that gave the Altice-owned SFR FTTH business an enterprise value of €3.6 billion.

Reuters more recently reported that the group was planning to sell as stake in its Portuguese high-speed fibre network, hiring Lazard to advise on the process. Reuters has now reported that Altice is expecting offers for a stake in the network by the middle of this month.

Altice had earlier announced that it was undertaking a strategic review of its fibre infrastructure, including “exploring financial partnerships”, with CFO Malo Corgin saying that the company was “extending this review to our fixed infrastructure in other countries in Europe”.