Altice Reportedly Offers To Buy Bouygues

(RTTNews) - European telecommunications company Altice SA (ATCV.OB) has offered to buy French mobile operator Bouygues Telecom for about €10 billion ($11.4 billion), the Wall Street Journal said on Sunday, quoting a person familiar with the matter.

According to the Journal, Altice, controlled by French billionaire Patrick Drahi, offered to buy Bouygues Telecom about 10 days ago and that a deal would include merging Bouygues with Altice's French operations, Numericable-SFR.

The Journal said that parent company Bouygues SA will consider the offer this week, although it isn't certain if Bouygues Chairman Martin Bouygues will accept a deal.

A deal between the companies is expected to face regulatory hurdles in France; the French government has vowed to oppose deals that would reduce the number of mobile operators in the country.

The Journal further said that, to address any antitrust concerns, Drahi has struck a side-deal with Iliad SA, owner of another mobile operator in France called Free Mobile, to purchase parts of Bouygues' telecoms network.