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(Sharecast News) - French telecom giants Bouygues Telecom, Free-iliad and Orange have beefed up their joint takeover bid for Altice Group's SFR brand by more than 3bn, renewing talks after billionaire Patrick Drahi rejected a proposal last year.
In a statement published by all four companies on Friday, the firms said that due diligence began earlier this year and negotiations are underway, with the consortium granted exclusivity until 15 May in order to finalise terms and conditions.
The new offer values SFR, which represents the bulk of Altice's telecom operations in France, at 20.35bn, compared with the previous bid of 17bn which was rejected last October.
Under the proposal put forward, Altice would hand over control of SFR, but keep its shareholdings in ACS/Intelcia, XP Fibre, Ultraedge and Altice Technical Services, as well as operations in French overseas departments and regions.
If successful, the deal would represent a major consolidation of the French telecoms market, reducing the number of major players from four to three, and consolidate control over strategic domestic infrastructure.
According to the consortium, the transaction would also strengthen investments in very high-speed broadband networks and the roll-out of new technologies, while maintaining a "competitive ecosystem for the benefit of consumers".
"This socially responsible transaction would help sustain and strengthen the entire digital economy and the telecommunications sector in France," the statement said.
Bouygues Telecom plans to pay 42% of the offer price, while Free-iliad will pay 31% and Orange will pay 27%, with the companies carving up SFR's B2B and B2C businesses and assets between them.
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