(Bloomberg) -- Billionaire Patrick Drahi is considering selling stakes in the carriers he controls in France and Portugal among several options for de-leveraging his debt-laden telecommunications empire Altice.
Altice France Chief Executive Officer Arthur Dreyfuss said in a meeting with employee representatives on Thursday that the group had hired advisers in “all geographies” to consider selling equity stakes or debt, people familiar with the matter said.
He added that the company was already refinancing French fiber construction unit XpFibre and that the sale of data centers in France and Portugal would be completed this autumn, the people said.
Newspaper Les Echos reported on Wednesday that Altice is in advanced negotiations to sell its 92 data centers in France to Morgan Stanley, a deal that would be valued at about €1 billion ($1.1 billion). Altice France and Morgan Stanley declined to comment.
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Dreyfuss said that Altice regularly appointed advisers to carry out strategic reviews in its markets, according to the people. Le Monde reported on Thursday that Altice gave a mandate to Lazard and BNP to consider selling a stake of French carrier SFR. Lazard is also working on options for Altice Portugal, while Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are in charge of ad-tech company Teads and a Dominican Republic carrier, according to Le Monde. Altice declined to comment on the matter.
Drahi spoke to investors at a non-deal roadshow in London on Wednesday, after a summer wrestling with the fallout from a criminal corruption probe in Portugal targeting key figures connected to Altice. He is expected to answer questions from investors about Altice USA in New York on Thursday.
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In London, he said that the prospects for selling SFR or merging it with a competitor depend on how EU regulators treat a proposed joint venture between France’s Orange SA and Spain’s Masmovil Ibercom SA.
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