Rodolphe Saadé close to buying Altice Media in €1.55bn deal

Despite earlier ruling out a sale of its French media assets, indebted telecom group Altice has entered into exclusive negotiations with shipping containers giant Compagnie Maritime D’Affrètement (CMA CGM), headed by Franco-Lebanese businessman Rodolphe Saadé, and Saadé’s investment vehicle Merit France to sell 100% of Altice Media for €1.55 billion.

Rodolphe Saadé

Altice Media comprises a portfolio of TV and radio services including the high profile BFM and RMC brands. The group owns five national TV channels and 10 local TV services with a total TV audience share of around 7%.

Altice Media turned in revenues of €362 million last year, with EBITDA of €112 million. The group employs 1,700 people, including 900 journalists.

In a press note, Altice founder and owner Patrick Drahi wished his media outfit success and thanked his employees in the business for their work towards making it a success.

Drahi expressed confidence in Saadé and his family, with whom he said he had enjoyed a close and warm relationship for many years, to continue to invest in and develop the media outfit.

Altice expects to complete the sale in the course of this summer.

Saadé is already present as a force in French media through ownership of regional newspaper Provence and national title La Tribune, as well as having a 10% stake in commercial broadcaster M6, backed by RTL Group, and an investment in youth-focused media outfit Brut. However, the acquisition of Altice Media marks a step change in terms of his investment in the sector.

During a debt investor call held in the wake of the corruption scandal that engulfed Altice Portugal last year, Drahi said the French media business was not for sale. However, with the group increasingly open to all available measures to reduce its debt pile, including the sale of French operator SFR, that earlier reticence has now disappeared.