Saudis pull out of Altice Portugal acquisition bid

Saudi Telecom, which was in the running to buy Altice Portugal, has now pulled out of the race after negotiations stalled.

Saudi Telecom had been looking for a Portuguese partner for the acquisition deal, but the deal fell through.
The Saudi public company provides network and telecommunications services, not just for its own country, but also for the Middle East and parts of Europe.
As the sole candidate in the final phase of the sale process (it had begin in 2023 and had had five candidates), Saudi Telecom had been negotiating with the Amorim Group to finalise the purchase of Altice Portugal, but the two sides could not agree on the price.
Both sides were involved in negotiations with the owner of Altice International, Patrick Drahi, but in the past fortnight they arrived at the conclusion that they would not be able to reach an agreement over the final price of the operation.
The Saudis thought that investment bank Morgan Stanley, which had valued Altice Portugal’s assets, hadn’t got its sums right and asked for the price to be revised downwards, something that the Altice wouldn’t accept.
Thus fell what could have been the sale of the year in Portugal, where it was estimated that Altice could have been sold to Saudi Telecom for €8Bn.
In September 2023, Saudi Telecom had bought 9.9% of the Spanish telecoms group Telefónica, becoming the largest single shareholder until the Spanish government bought 10% of the company.