Tuesday, May 28, the presentation of SFR’s first quarter results risks taking place in a difficult climate. Altice, the operator’s parent company, didn’t actually fix the problem his unrequited debt. At the end of 2023, it reaches a peak of 24.3 billion euros. The speech of Patrick Drahi, its owner, on March 20 did not appease the creditors at all. Just the opposite. By suggesting that he could ask his investors to write off part of his debts, the entrepreneur caused problems.
With this announcement, the telecom tycoon hoped to create divisions among his creditors. On the contrary, he managed to create a united front against him. World tells us how more than 150 of them decided to come together by signing a “cooperation agreement”. This agreement obliges its members to act together. So that each lender would not be tempted to negotiate individually, to the detriment of the interests of all,” only the majority can decide », explains the source of the diary.
A common shareholder agreement in the United States
Those approximately 150 lenders, mostly American investment funds, hold, according to Worldapproximately 80% of Altice France’s €20 billion in so-called secured debt. “That is, guaranteed by the property if it would not be repaid » reads the article. This level of debt gives them significant decision-making power. They “pthey can block any proposal they consider to be against their interests.
The coalition of creditors could first of all initiate the mechanism of “inter-class foreclosure”.
Introduced in France on 15 September 2021 during the transposition of the European Restructuring and Insolvency Directive, and implemented in the cases of Orpe and XYZ Energy, this system “ allows creditors to evict the shareholder(s) in the event of non-payment of debt.
Answer to Altice’s “blackmail”
World reminds that if “ this type of cooperative agreement is common in the United States, where relations between shareholders and creditors, or even between lenders themselves, are often strong “, remains unprecedented for a French company. The initiative would be a response to the “blackmail” carried out by Altice.
In recent months, the group has given some good assurances to the market. He sold its data centers AND its media department (BFM TV, BFM Business, RMC, etc.) for 535 million euros or 1.55 billion euros. The assets of these two transfers would, however, be located in companies which would allow it to ” do not use the money from this sale to pay off debt “.
During a well-known announcement on March 20, the French group said it was ready to pay part of the proceeds of this sale to its creditors. ” But on the condition that the latter agree to waive about a third of their debts ” mentioned World reminding ” that Altice France must repay 1.3 billion euros of debt in 2025 and the same amount in 2026. Next year, the maturity will increase to almost 6 billion. »
In order to give itself oxygen, Altice could activate another sale. In Portugal, the group would consider a sale Meo, the leading operator in the country. Just like FastFiber, a company specializing in fiber deployment. Expected amount: ten billion euros. Teads, a specialist in online advertising video, bought in 2017 for 285 million euros, could also be put up for sale in France.