Not content with buying Portugal Telecom two years ago, French-owned technology company Altice has entered the local media sector with the purchase of Media Capital, owner of TVI, TVI24, audiovisual content producer, Plural Entertainment, radio stations including Rádio Comercial, and Media Capital Digital, which owns the IOL portal and The TVI Player platform.
The French group says it has "pride" in this "unique opportunity" and is to pay €440 million to pursue it.
Prisa, the Spanish owner of Media Capital, accepted the binding offer from Altice, using its MEO subsidiary, to buy its stake in Media Capital.
"The parties have entered into a purchase and sale agreement under which Prisa will sell to MEO its entire stake in Media Capital, which represents 94.69% of its share capital," said Prisa today. The remaining 5% will be tidied up through to a takeover offer.
Prisa paid €190 million in 2005 for 33% of Media Capital’s shares so now will book a loss of €81 million in its 2017 accounts as asset disposals continue to reduce its €1.5 billion debt pile.
The purchase of Media Capital is a first in the media sector for Altice in Portugal and is part of the group's global strategy of offering more locally produced content to consumers.
The deal is subject to a green light from the Competition Authority.
Altice CEO, Michel Combes, announced that "the first investment will be made in digital, taking advantage of the distribution capabilities for mobile and fixed systems. With our technological capability it will be the first business we want to invest in. "
"What we intend to do with Media Capital is what we have done with PT, take advantage of the best assets in the country and to develop and grow the company."
“We want Media Capital to grow and become more important in local, national and international news and with strategies at the content level, with production of series and films. We are not saying goodbye to PT and there is no intention to do so with Media Capital"
Combes said that, “we are not firing people at PT, and there is no intention of firing people at Media Capital."
There are concerns at PT over Altice’s strategy of forcibly moving staff to other group companies with the possible loss of accrued workers' rights. The prime minister, perhaps forgetting that PT now is a privately owned company, today said that he "fears for the future of PT and its workers," with the cuts and employee transfers in progress.
The Left Bloc's Catarina Martins has accused Altice of fraud in dismissing workers, and of using "legal subterfuge," saying that the government must use all means at its disposal to prevent this happening.
Nonertheless, Combs said he is sure that Altice is welcome, “We are so passionate about the project that we are convinced that we will be able to share it with everyone, including at the political level."
The purchase is a clear drive towards bringing broadband Internet and TV under one roof, the strategy pursued by Altice’s owner Patrick Drahi in the U.S. and France.
Altice’s game plan in Portugal involves using Media Capital as a springboard for production of content for the Spanish, Portuguese and U.S. Latino markets, turning the Media Capital content producer, Plural Entertainment, into a “global content production hub,” according to an upbeat Altice press release.
