Bloomberg: Orange Nears Deal To Sell Dominican Republic Unit To Altice

(RTTNews) - French telecom company Orange SA (ORAN) is close to a deal to sell its Dominican Republic unit to Luxembourg-based cable and telecommunications company Altice, Bloomberg reported Sunday, citing three people familiar with the matter.

According to the Bloomberg report, a deal could be announced as soon as this week. Orange, previously known as France Telecom, put the Dominican Republic unit for sale earlier this year and has said it attracted multiple bids.

Orange Chief Executive Officer Stephane Richard has reportedly said that his company was nearing a sale of the Dominican Republic unit for a price above 1 billion euros, or $1.35 billion.

Orange is focusing on reducing its footprint in non-core markets and also cut down on costs. Stephane Richard has said that he plans to focus on bolstering the company's presence in emerging markets, especially in Africa and the Middle East, and exit slower-growing European markets.

In late October, Orange reported a decline in the restated third-quarter EBITDA, a key earnings metric, despite cost reductions efforts. Consolidated revenues were hurt by lower results at its core markets of France and Poland, while Spain registered a growth.

Altice, founded by telecom entrepreneur Patrick Drahi, is a multinational company with presence in six countries - Israel, Belgium, Luxembourg, the French Overseas Territories of Guadeloupe and Martinique, Portugal and Switzerland. The company is also the largest shareholder in French cable operator Numericable Group.

In October, Altice said it agreed to acquire Tricom SA and Global Interlink Ltd., a triple-play and wireless operator in the Dominican Republic, from Hispaniola Telecom Holdings Ltd. Altice said it intends to leverage on Tricom's quadruple-play platform to continue its television and broadband development as well as move aggressively to expand Tricom's mobile offering.

ORAN closed Friday's trading at $12.86, up $0.20 or 1.58 percent on a volume of 290,481 shares.