France's Altice buys Portugal Telecom for €7.4bn

SAO PAULO, BRAZIL: France's Altice on Monday bought out Portugal Telecom - which had been owned by Brazil's Oi - for €7.4bn ($9bn), the Brazilian company announced.

"Under the deal approved, Oi will sell to Altice all PT shares for the company's value of €7.4bn," Oi said in a note to Brazilian regulatory authorities.

It said that Oi would receive an additional €500m based on future PT earnings once in its new owners' hands.

Oi also said that before the sale is finalised, there will be corporate reorganisation, and some of its businesses may not be sold, for example Africatel, Timor Telecom and PT's investment in Rio Forte Investments.

It was the third major acquisition by Altice - a growing cable, telecoms and communications giant - following purchases of French companies SFR and Virgin France.

Portugal Telecom employs about 11,000 people, and controls 40-50% of Portugal's cellular and ADSL business.

Source: AFP, via I-Net Bridge