Altice SFR France - comment

The FT have published some vague details on Altice’s financing concerning its stake in BT.  Drahi’s stake is worth c. £3.5bn and the FT are reporting Altice has taken out a £1bn margin loan against it.  However, it is not clear whether these are additional borrowings or just refinancing some prior collar financing.   Initially, the margin loans were 60% LTV, implying there is c.£2bn of funding related to Altice's BT stake.  

The article's timing is likely to indicate that Drahi has maximised his cash position from the BT stake, to facilitate an equity injection in SFR potentially when Altice Media and other proceeds materialise in the coming months.  We view this as Drahi positioning the Altice entities before commencing negotiations with creditors.