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Altice Rejects €17 Billion Offer for SFR from French Telecom Rivals

By  |  October 15, 2025

Altice France has turned down a joint offer from Bouygues Telecom, Iliad’s Free and Orange to acquire most of the SFR owner’s assets, a move that complicates a widely watched consolidation play in Europe’s telecom sector, according to Reuters. Altice CEO Arthur Dreyfuss informed employees of the decision in an internal memo on Wednesday, per Reuters.

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    The three rival operators said late Tuesday they had submitted a non-binding €17 billion proposal that implied a €21 billion valuation for Altice France, according to Reuters. The approach had stoked expectations of long-awaited dealmaking across the continent’s telecoms industry as trading opened on Wednesday, even as the French government signaled it would scrutinize any transaction closely.

    “We confirm that we received an indicative offer last night for part of Altice France’s assets. This offer has been immediately rejected,” said Dreyfuss in a memo to employees seen by Reuters.

    Bouygues and Orange said they had taken note of Altice’s decision, according to Reuters, while Iliad did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

    Analysts at J.P. Morgan said the headline €17 billion proposal topped their prior standalone valuation of €16 billion and that potential synergies could justify a price north of €20 billion. A person familiar with the matter told Reuters in September that anything below that range would be unacceptable for SFR.

    The French government’s stance added another layer to the uncertainty. Earlier on Wednesday, Finance Minister Roland Lescure said he was going to be “extremely vigilant” about the deal. “I’m going to be vigilant about two things: the impact on consumer prices and the impact on the quality of service,” Lescure said in an interview on RTL radio. “There’s a competition authority; it’s independent. It’s there to protect consumers, and it will do so,” he said.

    Read more: EU to Decide on KKR’s Telecom Italia Buyout by May 30

    Market reaction was mixed after the rejection, according to Reuters. Bouygues shares, which had touched their highest level in more than seven years earlier in the session, were up about 8% by 0925 GMT, while Orange advanced roughly 3%. Broader sentiment was positive in Paris, with the CAC 40 gaining over 2%, and Italy’s Telecom Italia up 2.4%, per Reuters.

    SFR is France’s second-largest telecom operator, with more than 19 million mobile subscribers and 6.1 million fiber customers as of June, according to Reuters. France has had four network operators since 2012—Orange, Bouygues, Iliad’s Free and SFR—meaning any move to shrink the market to three would require approval from European or French competition authorities.

    Regulatory precedent in Europe remains nuanced. The European Commission cleared a four-to-three merger in Spain last year, but only after MasMovil and Orange agreed to a package of remedies to establish the €18 billion MasOrange operator, according to Reuters. In France, antitrust agency head Benoit Coeuré said in July that any SFR-related transaction would be examined “without prejudice,” while acknowledging potential difficulties.

    Deal dynamics could reverberate beyond France. Intermonte analyst Giorgio Tavolini said a transaction might catalyze broader restructuring, including a potential Iliad exit from Italy to focus resources at home.

    Source: Reuters