End of SFR: Free, Bouygues... Will your operator buy SFR? "The teams are on"

It's hot in the small world of French telecoms! The rumors are swollen: SFR, the well-known red square, could soon change its cream shop. And to buy it, guess who is on the line? Neither more nor less than Xavier Niel, Free's agitator, and the Bouygues Telecom group. A real shock from the titans in perspective, who could do the business of Patrick Drahi, the current owner of the operator.

Patrick Drahi never liked to waste time. And this time, it's his entire telecom empire that could bring him big. Very big. SFR: an operator at the edge of the abyss Before talking about buyback, you have to look at the figures. And they give the vertigo. Altice, SFR's mother house, has 60 billion euros of debt. Of which 24 billion for the French branch alone. And SFR itself, drags a slate of 15.5 billion. Under these conditions, it is impossible…

According to a survey published by Le Figaro on 6 April, Patrick Drahi has been looking for several years to separate from the operator with the red logo, owned by his group Altice. The company, criticized for its after-sales service, its tariff increases and its performance in decline, has seen nearly a million subscribers leave since the summer of 2023. At the same time, the brand's image continues to deteriorate with the general public. Altic…

The financial restructuring of Altice France will not be finalised until September, but already the preparations for a sale of SFR are in full swing. Behind the scenes, the great French operators sharpen their weapons. Two figures of the sector are preparing to face in what could become a strategic duel of scale: Xavier Niel, founder of Iliad (Free), and Martin [...] The article Repurchase of SFR: towards a duel between Xavier Niel and Bouygues …