France’s Autorite des Marches Financiers (AMF) has opposed the public exchange offer filed by Altice for all of the remaining shares not currently owned by Altice.
In September 2016 Altice offered to acquire the remaining 22% of SFR’s shares it does not yet own, on the basis of eight new Altice class A shares for five SFR Group shares. Altice said that the exchange offer, which was not subject to any ownership threshold, would “simplify the group’s ownership structure and enhance its organisational flexibility.”
Altice has now terminated the offer, though it said that it reserved the right to file an appeal with the Court of Appeal of Paris against the AMF’s decision, which it believed was made in breach of applicable stock market regulations. The Altice group noted that the board of directors of SFR Group unanimously recommended the voluntary offer and that an independent expert concluded that the offer was fair to minority shareholders.
SFR Group is 77.77%-owned by Patrick Drahi’s Altice Group, with 0.14% of the shares owned by other members of the board. The remainder of the shares is floated on the Paris Stock Exchange.
