Orange, Bouygues Shares Rise After $20 Billion Joint Offer for Altice In Consolidation Push

By Najat Kantouar

Shares in French telecommunications operators Orange and Bouygues rose after the pair submitted a joint offer to buy a large part of the assets of Patrick Drahi's Altice for 17 billion euros ($19.74 billion), in a deal that could consolidate the French telecoms market.

The two telecoms majors, alongside Free-iliad Group, said Tuesday that they put in a non-binding offer for most of the assets of Altice's SFR. The deal doesn't include SFR's stakes in Intelcia, UltraEdge, XP Fibre nor Altice Technical Services.

In early European trading, Orange shares were trading 3.1% higher at 13.99 euros and Bouygues shares were up 9.1% at 42.35 euros. Year to date, shares in both companies have risen more than 40%.

Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in a note last month that French telecommunications companies could look to consolidate, given that the country ranks among Europe's most competitive telecoms markets.

Altice might be motivated by potential synergies and the opportunity to reverse previous debt write-downs, while Bouygues could seek consolidation to achieve greater scale, Morgan Stanley said. Meanwhile, Iliad could aim to acquire assets to strengthen its service offering, and Orange would benefit from reduced competition, the analysts said.

Altice, the beleaguered European telecom firm led by billionaire Drahi, in February struck a global debt deal with investors holding more than $25 billion in bonds and loans in a bid to reduce its debt burden.

Under the deal, Bouygues and Free-iliad would oversee Altice's business-to-business company, while the three companies would share the business-to-consumer company. Other assets and resources, such as infrastructure and frequencies, would be shared among all three companies. Bouygues would take SFR's mobile network in less densely populated areas, the companies said.

Altice didn't immediately respond when contacted for comment.

The deal is subject to regulatory approvals and consultation with the relevant employee representative bodies.

Write to Najat Kantouar at najat.kantouar@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 15, 2025 05:24 ET (09:24 GMT)