S&P: Altice, Numericable outlooks to negative

Standard & Poor's said it revised the outlook Altice SA, Altice International Sarl and Numericable Group to negative from stable.

The B+ corporate credit ratings on these entities were affirmed.

At the same time, the agency placed its BB- issue rating on Altice International's senior secured debt on CreditWatch with negative implications.

S&P said the outlook revision follows the Altice group's announcement that it made a binding offer to purchase the Portuguese assets of Portugal Telecom for total enterprise value of €7,025,000,000, including an "earnout" provision of €800 million related to future performance. The agency understands that Altice International would carry out the acquisition using new debt and existing cash from Altice.

The offer reflects an EBITDA multiple of about 7 times, including adjusted pension liabilities of about €740 million (after deferred taxes) and the acquisition earnout.

Altice is a pure holding company whose main assets are a 60% stake in France's Numericable and 100% ownership of Altice International, which owns non-French assets. S&P said it considers both subsidiaries to be "core" group entities under its group rating methodology.

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