Paris: French telecoms tycoon Patrick Drahi, who already has stakes in newspaper Liberation and magazine L’Express, has reached a deal with the owners of BFM TV which will give him control over the leading French news-only TV channel.
Monday’s deal tops up the media end of the acquisitive billionaire’s communications empire. Before this move, he had bought four companies in the past 18 months despite setbacks for his efforts in the United States and with attempts to further consolidate the French telecoms sector.
In Monday’s announcement, Drahi’s holding company Altice said it had entered a partnership with Alain Weill, the main shareholder of NextRadioTV - which owns BFM TV, BFM Business and radio RMC.
Weill and Altice will set up a new holding company in which Weill will hold a 51 per cent stake and which he will chair, but from March 2019 Drahi will be able to buy all of NextRadioTV, which had 2014 turnover of €195.1 million (Dh791.59 million).
In a first phase, Weill will transfer his 37.77 per cent stake in NextRadioTV (which gives him 48.59 per cent of the voting rights) to the new holding company, which will then launch a bid for the rest of the NextRadioTV at €37 per share, valuing the group a more than €605 million.
By midday, NextRadioTV shares were up 14.5 per cent at €36.41, a new high since their listing in 2006.
The operation, which will be examined by the French competition authorities and the media regulator, is set to be finalised by the end of this year.
As part of the deal, Weill will acquire 24 per cent of the shares of an Altice unit that will invest in the media business, notably abroad, Altice said in a statement. Weill will also become a member of Altice’s board and will direct the firm’s media business.
Drahi’s stakes in Liberation and L’Express, however, will remain in separate holding company Altice Media Group, which is controlled directly by Drahi.
Drahi, who also owns the Israeli news station i24news, has started talks on a takeover of Intescia, which publishes Strategies, a weekly focused on the advertising and marketing industry.
