Vivendi SA, which is the largest provider of media and telecommunication services in Europe, announced that it has received two offers for its SFR phone unit. The company has been recently planning to spin off the division in question as a part of its profound restructuring strategy, which is expected to provide the company with an opportunity to focus on media and entertainment.
Vivendi also set Wednesday as the deadline for receiving the bids. People familiar with the process commented that such a decision provides the company with enough time for the organization of its annual general meeting scheduled for June 24th. The company also explained in its statement that the offers are to be examined by Vivendis supervisory board and all available options will be taken into consideration in order to make a decision that complies with the best interests of both the companys shareholders and employees.
The separate bids for the phone unit SFR are made by Bouygues SA and Altice SA, which will compete over the acquisition deal.
Bouygues shared that Vivendis SFR division was estimated to almost 19 billion euros (26 billion dollars) including synergies. The companys offer to Vivendi SA includes 10.5 billion euros in cash as well as an asset contribution to the new entity. The company, however, refused to make any further comments on the situation.
As reported by Bloomberg, the bid of Altice SA, owner of Numericable, is said to be estimated to about 20 billion dollars through a mixture of debt, cash and equity. In addition, according to people with knowledge of the matter, at least eight banks have agreed to finance up to 8 billion euros as part of Altices bid. One of them is JPMorgan. One of the companys spokesmen refused to comment.
One of the analysts working for JPMorgan – Hannes Wittig said for the Financial Times: “There probably would have to be substantial antitrust remedies, such as a return of spectrum and the sale of network assets.”
Vivendi SA rose by 0.78% by 9:13 GMT in Paris to 20.71 euros, marking a one-year change of +32.97%. The company is valued at 27.55 billion euros. The 24 analysts offering 12-month price targets for Vivendi SA have a median target of 21.80 euros, with a high estimate of 27.00 euros and a low estimate of 15.00 euros. The median estimate represents a 5.65% increase from the previous close of 20.64 euros.
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