Drahi’s $28 Billion Payday May Lap His Hedge Fund Frenemies
Patrick Drahi seems to have engineered himself a lucrative French telecoms exit.
Photographer: Stephane de Sakutin/AFP/Getty Images
Last year’s deal to slash debt at Patrick Drahi’s French telecoms empire followed a fraught and protracted negotiation between the tycoon and his hedge-fund frenemies. With Altice France SA now set to be sold in transactions that may fetch €24 billion ($28 billion), the true economics of that restructuring are being revealed. Drahi — of course — emerges as the winner.
Altice France had been languishing under €25 billion of debt, landing its owner in negative equity. In March 2024, management sent the company’s bonds tumbling with a warning that creditors needed to agree to write downs to cut leverage to a sustainable level. Nearly a year of wrangling followed. The resulting restructuring cut borrowings by €9 billion and left bondholders with an equity stake.