Vivendi Agrees to Sell SFR to Altice in $23 Billion Deal

Billionaire Patrick Drahi’s Altice SA won the bidding contest for Vivendi SA’s French phone unit, beating a government-backed offer from Bouygues SA by agreeing to a deal valued at more than 17 billion euros ($23 billion).

Altice will pay 13.5 billion euros in cash and give Vivendi 20 percent of the company created from a merger of its Numericable Group with Vivendi’s SFR. Vivendi will receive an extra 750 million euros if earnings targets are met, the companies said in separate releases.