Altice USA launches IPO

Cable and telecom group Altice’s US subsidiary has launched its IPO, offering 63,943,029 shares of its Class A common stock at a price to the public of US$30 (€27) per share

Following the public offering, which will raise up to US$1.92 billion for the company, Altice will retain ownership of 70.3% of Altice USA’s common stock, representing 98.3% of the voting power. The IPO is one of the biggest in the US this year.

Of the shares of Altice USA’s Class A common stock included in the offering, 12,068,966 shares will be sold by Altice USA, 31,475,965 shares will be sold by funds advised by BC Partners and 20,398,098 shares will be sold by entities affiliated with the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB). BC Partners and CPPIB have granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 7,781,110 additional shares of Class A common stock.

With most of the shares being provided by BC Partners funds and CCPIB, Altice USA itself is selling a relatively small proportion of its stock in the face of strong demand. Altice is also only selling non-voting class A shares.

Altice USA is expected to use the funds from the IPO to pay down some of its debt, but also potentially to finance further acquisitions in the medium term.

JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering and representatives of the underwriters, together with BofA Merrill Lynch, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole CIB, Deutsche Bank Securities and RBC Capital Markets as additional joint book-running managers.