The operators Bouygues Telecom, Iliad (Free) and Orange, engaged together in the acquisition of SFR, announced on Friday June 5 that the period of exclusive negotiations opened in order to find an agreement with Altice France, parent company of their competitor, had been extended until this Sunday.
“In view of the progress of the negotiations, the parties are giving themselves a period of 48 hours to finalize the agreements”, it is indicated in a joint press release, while the deadline was to expire on Friday for these discussions, after an offer of 20.35 billion euros.
The three potential buyers announced in mid-April that they had agreed on this sale price with the operator in the red square, but many details of the contract remained to be finalized.
A reconfiguration of the market
The period of exclusive negotiations was then open until May 15, before being pushed back for the first time until June 5.
According to several sources close to the matter, one of the sensitive points of the negotiations concerns the contours of the so-called “earn out” clause, which defines an additional price according to certain parameters linked to the acquired company.
The hypothesis of an abandonment of discussions appears very unlikely, after months of exchanges between the four groups.
The meeting of three competitors within the same consortium of buyers, then the continuation of discussions with the group of billionaire Patrick Drahi, after the refusal of a first takeover offer to the tune of 17 billion euros, augurs a possible reconfiguration of the market.
A possible price increase
In the event of a takeover of SFR, shared between the buyers, the sector would then fall to three operators, a situation never seen since the arrival of Free on the mobile market in 2012.
Its 19.4 million mobile customers and 6.1 million fixed customers will eventually be distributed to Free, Bouygues or Orange.
If the four players reach an agreement, the operation will still remain subject to control by the competition authorities. The jurisdiction of Brussels or Paris will then have to be decided, before an evaluation phase of the file begins which should take around 18 months.
In a market with three operators, industry observers expect a price increase, which should be relatively moderate, according to many specialists.
At the same time, SFR employees, but also those of other operators, expressed fears about their jobs.
