Altice, which recently purchased 88% stake in Tricom, the largest local cable TV operator, is now said to be the likely buyer of Orange Dominicana, the telecoms operator that has around 38% of the Dominican mobile market. The announcement comes at a time when consumer complaints about deficient mobile services are increasing by the day.
The other strong contenders for Orange are Digicel and Cable & Wireless (Lime). Orange is selling its Dominican operation to strengthen its position at home where it faces new competition, according to reports in the telecoms sector media. Bloomberg reports that the DR operation represents only 1% of Orange’s total revenue. The sale is part of a trend for major European telecom operators to shed non-core assets.
Bloomberg and Reuters report that on Friday, 22 November, Orange CEO Stephane Richard has said their price is being met. The company wants to sell for US$1.35 billion.
Earlier in November, Altice announced that it planned to leverage on Tricom’s quadruple-play platform to continue its television and broadband development as well as moving aggressively to expand Tricom’s mobile offering. The Orange buyout would be a step in that direction.
On 31 October, Altice Caribbean, the subsidiary of the Luxembourg-based private equity firm Altice Group, signed an agreement to acquire Tricom from its current owner Hispaniola Telecom, a company controlled by Amzak Capital Management and Inversiones Bahia. Under the terms set out by the deal, Altice will acquire 88% of Tricom, while Hispaniola Telecom will retain the remaining 12% stake.
Altice CEO Dexter Goei commented: “The acquisition of Tricom is an important step in the implementation of our growth strategy of identifying attractive opportunities in markets where we can create value. Altice is already present in the region with Outremer Telecom and Le Cable that offer quadruple-play services in French overseas territories. The combination of these assets will allow us to create sustainable growth and further optimize the efficiency of our international telecoms infrastructure.”
Altice is a Luxembourg-based company, founded by telecom entrepreneur Patrick Drahi. Altice currently owns and operates cable, mobile, DSL and datacenter companies in Israel, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Caribbean, Indian Ocean, Portugal and Switzerland.
Founded in 1988, Tricom has over 800,000 customers cable television, residential and corporate Internet / data, as well as fixed and wireless telephony. Amzak Capital Management and Inversiones Bahia acquired Tricom via Hispaniola Telecom Holdings in April 2010 and have since then embarked on a substantial capital investment program to upgrade and expand the existing network to state-of-the art triple play and 4G mobile capabilities.
www.altice.net/files/Altice_Press_Release_31.10.13.pdf
www.nasdaq.com/article/bloomberg-orange-nears-deal-to-sell-dominican-republic-unit-to-altice-20131124-00022#ixzz2leWY6gzF