Deals
Debt King Drahi's Bid for Sotheby's Puts the Art World in Play
- Deal sets up contest with Christie’s owner Francois Pinault
- Shares rise above offer price as other bidders said circling
Patrick Drahi
Photographer: Eric Piermont/AFP via Getty Images
This article is for subscribers only.
In a career defined by audacious takeovers, Patrick Drahi’s bid for Sotheby’s ranks as perhaps the most surprising of all.
The French-Israeli tycoon has long followed his own path in business, tapping the market for junk-rated debt to help build the second-biggest telecom company in France. And Drahi shunned the elite bastions of Paris by listing Altice Europe NV in Amsterdam and settling in the alpine town of Zermatt, Switzerland.