Cablevision to be acquired by Altice for $10 billion

European cable company Altice NV has agreed to acquire Cablevision Systems Corp. for about $10 billion,

the

Wall Street Journal

reported.

The deal values Cablevision at $17.7 billion, including debt.

Altice, which is run by billionaire investor Patrick Drahi, will pay $34.90 a share for Cablevision. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2016, after regulatory approvals are obtained, the article said.

An earlier


Journal




report

said Cablevision, based in Bethpage, N.Y., had been “widely seen as a potential acquisition target in a fast-consolidating industry where a few heavyweights are in dominant positions.” Cablevision is controlled by the Dolan family, which has a 72.3% voting stake.  The Dolan family also owns AMC Networks Inc. and Madison Square Garden Co.

“For years, merger advisers and media executives speculated that Cablevision could be an acquisition target, but doing a deal with the Dolans was seen as difficult because of the high valuation they have attached to their assets,” the


Journal


article said.

The company was founded by Chuck Dolan, now 88, in 1973. His son James is the CEO, and other family members hold executive positions in the company. The family made a $10.6 billion offer to take the company private in 2007, but shareholders rejected the proposal, the


Journal


report noted.

Cablevision is the fifth-largest U.S. cable company and the eighth-largest provider of pay-TV services, with $6.5 billion in revenue in 2014, the


Journal


reported.  (Source:


Wall Street Journal


, Sept. 17, 2015.)