Three major French telecommunications companies reached a formal agreement Saturday to purchase SFR from Altice France in a deal valued at €20.35 billion ($23.44 billion), debt included, according to company announcements.
The purchasing group, spearheaded by Bouygues Telecom and including Orange and Free-iliad Group, had announced Friday they were extending negotiations by 48 hours to complete the transaction terms.
Altice France had previously pushed back the exclusive negotiation window until June 5 from an earlier May 16 cutoff, following the three companies’ decision in April to increase their bid from approximately €17 billion.
Should regulatory bodies give their approval, this transaction would represent one of the largest European telecommunications acquisitions in recent memory.
The breakup of SFR would consolidate France’s mobile carrier market from four competitors to three, creating a significant challenge for antitrust regulators regarding market concentration in Europe’s telecommunications sector.
Orange’s chief executive Christel Heydemann stated in April that regulatory conversations had already begun in preparation for the deal, mentioning behavioral remedies as a potential path toward approval.
The agreed-upon financial structure allocates approximately 42% of the purchase price to Bouygues Telecom, 31% to the Free-iliad Group, and 27% to Orange. The memorandum of understanding includes penalty clauses ranging from €0.1 billion to €2 billion.
