Altice hires investment banks

Altice has hired four investment banks to value the sale of some assets it plans to sell to reduce its debs according to Reuters.

At least four banks have been hired with contracts to that effect to offload non-strategic assets in Europe to offset the telecommunication group’s debts.
However, according to Jornal Económico, sources within say that the group is not thinking about selling Altice Portugal or the French telecoms operator SFR.
According to these sources, who did not want to be named, the company wants to sell non-core assets as well as bringing in new investors into the group and its subsidiaries, as well as effecting possible consolidations.
According to Reuters, the banks are Morgan Stanley, Lazard, BNP Paribas, and Goldman Sachs. The use of financial advisors to help Altice reduce its €50Bn debt had been expected.
At the beginning of August, Altice founder Patrick Drahi said that he felt betrayed by his ex-partner Armando Pereira and by a small group of employees who were involved in an alleged corruption case which, according to the Portuguese authorities, may have damaged the company to the tune of €600 million while losing the tax authorities around €100 million.