AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - European telecoms and cable group Altice (AS:ATCE) would be interested in buying Dutch company KPN (AS:KPN), its chief executive Dexter Goei was quoted in a Dutch newspaper as saying, but he added that the two companies were not in talks.
Controlled by Franco-Israeli billionaire Patrick Drahi, Altice has been on a buying spree for the past 18 months that has resulted so far in the purchase of four companies and a bid for smaller French rival Bouygues Telecom (PA:BOUY), which was rejected.
"For the Dutch economy and infrastructure it would be good if KPN belonged to us," Goei was quoted as saying by newspaper De Telegraaf. "We are in a position to invest far more each year in the Dutch network than KPN currently does."
Earlier on Friday Luxembourg-based Altice announced it was being restructured with the creation of a new Dutch-registered and listed holding company, Altice NV, which will have two classes of voting shares so that it can make more share-based acquisitions without jeopardising Drahi's control.
But Goei told the Telegraaf he was not in a hurry to make a bid for KPN.
"An acquisition like that doesn't have to happen today, tomorrow or this year. Our approach is always unhostile and we are not in talks," he was quoted as saying.
(This story has been corrected to say interview with CEO Dexter Goei, not Patrick Drahi)