Altice’s Talks for Lightpath Stake Sale Collapse
Altice’s Talks for Lightpath Stake Sale Collapse
(Bloomberg) -- Altice USA Inc., the cable-television provider that spun off from Patrick Drahi’s Altice NV last year, is no longer in talks to sell a minority stake in its Lightpath fiber unit to Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Shares of Altice USA reversed earlier gains on Thursday, falling as much as 1.5%. The company had a market value of $17.4 billion in trading at 1:26 p.m. in New York. The shares had been up more than 60% over the past 12 months.
Talks between Altice USA and the U.S. infrastructure firm centered on a deal that would value the unit at about $3 billion, Bloomberg reported on July 24. The transaction has fallen apart, said the people, who requested anonymity because the discussions were private. A representative for Altice USA declined to comment while a representative for Stonepeak didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The potential deal was being discussed as Altice USA attempts to streamline its portfolio of businesses while sparking growth in broadband and video services.
“We continue to review our strategic alternatives,” Chief Executive Officer Dexter Goei said last week on an earnings conference call, describing the process as an “opportunistic” situation. “This is not a must-do in all respects,” he added.
Goei had previously said the company could use proceeds from a sale to repurchase shares or pay down debt. Altice USA had about $24 billion in debt as of June 30, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Lightpath, with a network of about 375,000 miles of fiber, provides internet, telephone, data transport and other services to businesses in and around New York City, according to Altice USA’s annual report.
To contact the reporters on this story: Gillian Tan in New York at gtan129@bloomberg.net;Gerry Smith in New York at gsmith233@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alan Goldstein at agoldstein5@bloomberg.net, Josh Friedman, Dan Reichl
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