Papa Dominicano

23 November 2017 By Liam Proud Follow @liamwardproud

Patrick Drahi’s telecom and cable group may dump its Dominican Republic unit just four years after buying it. That adds credibility to the entrepreneur’s plan to cut debt by flogging assets. It also underscores that Altice’s days of heady, M&A-led growth are firmly in the past.

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Altice is planning to sell its telecoms network in the Dominican Republic as part of plans to reduce leverage by disposing of assets, the Financial Times reported on Nov. 23 citing three people briefed on the matter.

The sale is still in its early stages and plans could change. The Dominican Republic accounted for 718 million euros of revenue in 2016, about 3 percent of the group’s total, and 376 million euros of EBITDA – 4 percent of the total.

The Netherlands-listed telecoms and cable group on Nov. 20 denied that it planned to raise cash by selling shares or issuing convertible bonds. Altice, founded by Patrick Drahi, said it would bring down its 50 billion euro net debt through an “operational turnaround” in France and the disposal of non-core assets in Europe.

Altice shares were up 7.2 percent at 8.1 euros by 0835 GMT.

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