French-Israeli founder and billionaire Patrick Drahi's days of power at the helm of Altice may be numbered. At stake now are the operation in France – which has the second-largest French operator, SFR – and debt of 24.4 billion euros, which is largely due to decades of debt buyouts, especially in an era when interest rates are historically low. Just last week, BloombergHe revealed that the creditors' new plan includes reevaluating the total value of the debts, but this may put Draghi's authority at risk. This is an outcome that is considered, according to the news agency, internally unlikely.
The proposal now put forward, in addition to revaluing the debt, also provides for and includes extending maturities haircut – Reducing the value of any debt – 15% or reducing interest. As a bargaining chip, creditors will receive bonds convertible into shares. A process that may lead to creditors taking control of Drahi's company, but everything depends on the transfer value.
According to bloomberg, Creditors view Altice as unable to support its debt weight given its earnings trajectory and investment needs. As such, they also proposed using part of the three billion euros resulting from the sale of assets and recapitalization of profits to reduce secured debt, in addition to asking Drahi to inject more capital into the company, the same sources revealed.
Iron arm
In July, Altice asked secured creditors to accept a 20% reduction in the value of their properties. The goal is first to reduce its financial leverage to less than four times its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.
This instability led the financial rating agency Moody's to write down the value of loans classification assigned to Altice France Holding Company, moving from “B3” to “Caa2”, a two-level drop that puts the company just three steps above the bottom of Moody’s rating table, Reuters.
Remember that Altice France is one of the three major branches of the international group. The other two are Altice International – where Altice Portugal is based – and Altice USA, which is listed on Wall Street. The first two are no longer traded on the stock exchange.
And the operator in Portugal?
On the table was – or will continue to be – the possibility of selling Altice Portugal. However, it is known that this will not be the case at the moment – Altice «Explores different options» Selling assets in Portugal. “At this moment, we do not expect any deal involving the entire perimeter of Altice Portugal in the short term. We continue to explore different options that incorporate the significant value of the existing infrastructure in Altice Portugal, and if there is a reason to do so, further announcements will be made in the market»explained Malu Corbin, Altice Group CFO.
The group controlled by Patrick Drahi has sold the digital advertising company Teads to North American Outbrain, a deal worth $1 billion (about 900 million euros) that will help reduce debt, and the process is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2025. .
In fact, at the beginning of this year Bloomberg The Saudi Telecom Company “Iliad”, owned by French millionaire Xavier Niel, revealed… Private equity American Warburg Pincus, who is linked to the former head of Credit Suisse, Antonio Horta Osorio, advanced to the second round of negotiations with the telecommunications company.
At that time, the operator was introduced to investors by its presence in a “Very attractive Portuguese telecommunications market”Where Mio emerged as the leader “Indisputable” In all sectors and with “Highly diversified revenue streams with strong growth levers”.
It is true that from then until now, Mio's accounts have not become famous, despite the high values. Altice Portugal's revenues reached 705 million in the second quarter of the year, EBITDA reached 252 million, and the company's investments reached 95 million euros. Since the beginning of the year, the operator's revenues amounted to EUR 1,409 million, EBITDA 511 million, and global investments amounted to EUR 195 million.
However, Altice Labs has damaged the launcher. “Altice Labs' financial performance continues to be impacted by lower hardware and service sales in other geographies», he admits.
On the other hand, the companies of Hernani Vaz Antunes – best known as the right-hand man of Altice co-founder Armando Pereira, who is also involved in the PECOAS operation – are suffering from a decline in their business. From what our newspaper found, this decline is reflected in the number of workers – from about 1,500 to less than 150 – as well as in the turnover, which registered a decline of almost 60%, from the moment the businessman from Braga started his business. Investigation. the To be born to sun As you know, more than a dozen of these companies that were providing services to the group closed their doors after these contracts were breached by Altice, which hired new service providers at higher costs.
Changing chairs in management
Many well-known names have left Altice over the past few years. The first major change was the departure of Alexandre Fonseca, CEO, to make way for Ana Figueiredo. And then until now, a lot has happened.
The latest, which happened this week, concerns the departure of João Epifanio, historical director of PT and Altice, who took over the duties of the company's Executive Committee. He left for unexplained reasons to make way for Luis Mestre, who was part of Joao Epifanio's team and who has been with the company for many years.
Behind, there are more changes. The first, a year ago, was the departure of Alexandre Matos from the position of CFO which he had held since the end of 2017, and his replacement by Goncalo Camolino.
Joao Teixeira, CTO, also left to make way for José Pedro Nascimento. The company's CEO also created the position of Chief Legal Officer, which was filled by Sofia Aguiar. In January of this year, Madalena Albuquerque joined Human Resources.
Last year, Alcino Lavrador left the leadership of Altice Labs, to be replaced by João Paulo Vermeza.
All of these new names are part of Ana Figueiredo's team and none of them now belong to the previous management.
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