Three French telecoms giants said on Saturday they had signed a deal to buy rival SFR after months of negotiations over a takeover of the ailing firm.
The companies – Bouygues Telecom, Orange and Free owner Iliad – said SFR parent Altice had accepted their offer of 20.35 billion euros for the struggling mobile operator.
The deal could reshape the French telecoms landscape by reducing the number of main operators from four to three.
It is “one of the largest industrial transactions in the telecommunications sector in Europe,” the companies said in a joint statement.
The deal includes a potential bonus of up to 650 million euros on closing the sale, and a promise to SFR employees not to cut any jobs until 2029.
Bouygues would acquire 42 percent of SFR’s operations, Iliad 31 percent and Orange 27 percent.
In October, Altice rejected a bid of 17 billion euros for SFR, France’s second-biggest mobile operator.
Tough competition among France’s four major operators has weighed on SFR’s sales and subscriber numbers in recent years.
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Altice’s billionaire owner Patrick Drahi borrowed massively to amass a telecoms and media empire, but he has recently been forced to sell assets.
He had to give creditors a 45-percent stake in the group after restructuring a 24-billion-euro debt load last year.
The negotiations for SFR have drawn scrutiny from competition regulators, with President Emmanuel Macron warning during the first sale attempt that the government would be “extremely vigilant” about the impact on prices for consumers.
