Deals
Orange Said to Pitch Bouygues Takeover Plan to French State
- Valls, economy minister to meet with executives from companies
- Structure of $10.9 billion deal is said to be at draft stage
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Orange SA will pitch its plan to acquire Bouygues Telecom to France’s prime minister this week, as talks progress on consolidating the telecommunications industry around the country’s former monopoly, people familiar with the matter said.
The goal is to reach an agreement on the transaction before Orange reports earnings on Feb. 16, the people said, asking not to be named discussing confidential talks. The deal is likely to value Bouygues SA’s mobile-phone unit at about 10 billion euros ($10.9 billion), though the structure -- how much Orange will pay in cash versus shares and what assets will be sold to rivals to alleviate antitrust hurdles -- is still being negotiated, they said.