Altice has signed a definitive agreement to buy a 70% stake in the US cable operator Suddenlink from its existing shareholders BC Partners, CPP Investment Board and Suddenlink management.
The deal, which values Suddenlink at an enterprise amount of $9.1 billion and 7.6 times se
synergy adjusted EBITDA (7.3 times based in a tax-adjusted enterprise value, will see BC Partners and CPP Investment Board will retain a 30% stake in the company.
It will be financed with $6.7 billion of new and existing debt at Suddenlink, a $500 million vendor loan note from BC Partners and CPP Investment Board and $1.2 billion of cash from Altice, with the remainder representing the roll over by BC Partners and CPP Investment Board.
The deal is expected to close in Q4, following regulatory approval.
Dexter Goie, Altice’s CEO, said: “We are very excited about the acquisition of Suddenlink and are highly committed to continue to improve network investment, customer offers and service innovation in the attractive US market.
“Our investment in Suddenlink, our first in the cable sector in the US, opens an attractive industrial and strategic avenue for Altice in the US, one of the largest and fastest growing communications markets in the world.
We are looking forward to our partnership with BC Partners and CPP Investment Board and believe Suddenlink is a best-in-class business that should be able to deliver profitability and cash flow levels in line with best-in-class European cable businesses.”
Suddenlink is the 7th largest US cable operator with 1.5 million residential and 90,000 business customers. Its operations arte primarily focused in in Texas, West Virginia, Louisiana, Arkansas and Arizona.
It had revenues of $2.3 billion and over $900 million of EBITDA in 2014.
