Deals
Altice Soars as French Regulator Says He's Open to Mergers
- Altice, Bouygues lead rally in European telecom stocks
- The door is open to possible deals, Arcep’s Soriano says
Employees use smartphones inside an SFR mobile phone store, operated by Altice NV, in Lille.
Photographer: Dario Pignatelli/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The on-again, off-again merger dance among French phone companies may be back on again.
Shares of Altice NV soared as much as 53 percent after Sebastien Soriano, the head of telecom regulator Arcep, told Le Monde newspaper that he’s more open to deals now that the four main phone carriers have invested billions of euros in their networks, as requested by the agency. Orange SA, Iliad SA and Bouygues SA also gained amid speculation that debt-laden Altice’s French unit, SFR, will attract an offer.