According to people with knowledge of the process, Vivendi SA has asked both competing bidders for its Paris-located phone unit SFR – Bouygues SA and Altice SA – to submit their final offers by Wednesday. The company is also said to have provided them with a chance to improve the terms they have proposed.
The people, who asked not to be identified because the plans are not public yet, reported that the board of Vivendi will hold a meeting by the end of the week where the final bids of the competitors for the SFR unit are expected to be considered.
Today Altice SA confirmed that it has made a 10.9-billion-euros (15.15 billion dollars) bid in cash for a majority stake in the telephone unit of Vivendi. The company explained that the offer is valid until Friday this week.
Altice SA made an official statement, which was cited by the Wall Street Journal: “We believe that this is the most compelling offer for Vivendi and the French telecommunications market.” As cited by Bloomberg, the company also said: “An SFR-Numericable combination is the only credible project to bring fiber and very high speed broadband to the entire country, delivering credible and realizable advantages for employees, consumers and suppliers in France.”
Bouygues SAs offer amounted to about 20 billion dollars, excluding synergies. The countrys regulators are concerned that an eventual merger between Vivendis SFR unit and Bouygues Telecom would harm competition, because together they will have more than 21 million subscribers.
According to a person familiar with the matter, Iliad SA, which in 2012 tried to purchase SFR, demonstrated readiness to merge with Bouygues Telecom in case the offer of Altice SA for SFR is preferred by Vivendi. As Bloomberg reported, one of the analysts working for Sanford C Bernstein – Robin Binenstock – wrote in a note that Bouygues SA is the possible winner in the race for the SFR unit. Bienenstock wrote: “An SFR-Bouygues deal carries higher synergies and more long-term upside.”
Vivendi SA fell by 0.25% to 20.25 euros in Paris by 9:55 GMT, marking a one-year change of +26.62% up. The company is valued at 27.19 billion euros. The 21 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 7.42% increase from the last price of 20.30 euros.
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