Altice finalises acquisition of Portugal Telecom

Expanding telecom group Altice announced Tuesday it had completed the 7.4 billion euro ($8.26 billion) acquisition of Portugal Telecom from Brazilian owner Oi. Owner of French telecom Numericable-SFR, Altice said it had finalised the Portugal Telecom acquisition after European regulators cleared the deal April 1 on conditions that Altice sell its previous Portuguese holdings to address competition concerns. The move marks the most recent expansion by Altice under the direction of Franco-Israeli billionaire Patrick Drahi. On April 10 the Luxembourg-based company took a 70 percent stake in US cable company Suddenlink worth 8.2 billion euros, after buying France's SFR in 2014 for 17 billion euros. Following shareholder approval to proceed with the purchase in January, Altice called the Portugal Telecom acquisition "excellent news... for investment, innovation, stockholders, employees and for Portugal." Oi bought the Lisbon-based telecom in May 2014 in the hopes of creating a Portuguese-language telecom giant. Instead, the financially struggling Oi has had to push through painful job and spending cuts -- including another 1,070 layoffs announced in April -- and try to reconsolidate activity in its domestic market.