PARIS (Reuters) - Altice (AS:ATCA), the parent of French telecoms firm SFR Group (PA:SFRGR), said on Thursday it has agreed to sell its businesses in Belgium and Luxembourg to Telenet Group (BR:TNET) for an enterprise value of 400 million euros ($418 million).
The Netherlands-based holding, controlled by Franco-Israeli tycoon Patrick Drahi, is focusing on its larger operations in France and the United States, where it is considering an initial public offering (IPO) of its subsidiary Altice USA.
The sale of the businesses in Belgium and Luxembourg will be made on a cash and debt free basis. The deal is expected to receive approval from the Belgian antitrust authorities "within a few months," Telenet said in a separate statement.
The deal values the two businesses, dubbed SFR BeLux, at 6.5 times estimated adjusted earnings before interest taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for 2016, Telenet said.
It said the acquisition of SFR BeLux will allow Telenet to extend its cable operations in Brussels and a part of Wallonia.
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