Drahi boosts Altice offer, adds yet more debt

Patrick Drahi has raised his offer to take Altice Europe private, responding to legal challenges by hedge funds including Lucerne Capital Management. The revised bid increases the company’s valuation by almost €1bn, and translates to paying minority shareholders an extra €700m — meaning yet more debt piled on one of Europe’s largest levfin issuers, which has more than €30bn outstanding already.