Patrick Drahi wants to take over Eutelsat – Freebox Universe

The owner of SFR made a proposal to the satellite operator, the offer was refused.

A hyperactive telecom tycoon in 2021. In a few months, Patrick Drahi thus got his hands through his group Altice France on the operators Réglo Mobile, Prixtel and Coriolis Telecom. Last June, the billionaire also acquired 12.1% of the capital of the British incumbent operator BT, enough to become the largest shareholder. Last year, the owner of SFR even attempted a colossal operation worth nearly $ 8 billion in Canada but failed to buy out Quebec cable operator Cogeco.

This time, it is the European satellite operator Eutelsat with a turnover of 1.2 billion euros which is in the sights of Patrick Drahi. A first offer was put on the table, refused by the French group chaired by Rodolphe Belmer.

“Following recent market rumors, Eutelsat Communications confirms having received an unsolicited, preliminary and non-binding proposal from Patrick Drahi regarding a potential transaction on the entire share capital of the company. The relevant governance bodies of Eutelsat Communications have unanimously decided not to engage in discussions on the basis of the terms of this proposal ”, we learned this September 29 in a press release. It remains to be seen if Patrick Drahi will review his offer.

Founded in 1977, Eutelsat Communications is one of the largest satellite operators in the world. Thanks to its global fleet of satellites and its ground infrastructure, the group enables its customers from different sectors (video, data, government services and fixed and mobile connectivity) to establish efficient links to their own customers. , wherever they are. Eutelsat also broadcasts more than 6,800 TV channels reaching an audience of one billion viewers equipped for satellite reception or connected to terrestrial networks. It recently announced that it had taken a minority stake in its British rival OneWeb for $ 550 million, with the aim of competing with SpaceX.