Numericable, Bouygues Telecom make bids to buy Vivendi's SFR

Vivendi's desire to sell its telecom division SFR is again in the news this week as Numericable and Bouygues Telecom have made bids on the unit, reports French newspaper Les Echos.

Both service providers value SFR at about $26.1 billion to $27.5 billion.

The board of directors, which includes Henri Lachmann (CEO of Schneider Electric), Alexandre de Juniac (CEO of Air France KLM) and Vincent Bollore (CEO of Bollore Group), have eight days to review each offer.

Altice, the owner of Numericable, has also submitted a bid for SFR, but has not disclosed the amount it would pay.

Selling SFR has been a major priority for Vivendi as it looks to reduce debt and focus its attention on media, including consuming digital media in music and video.

Last July, Vivendi announced it would sell its 53 percent stake in Maroc Telecom and a deal to sell most of its 61 percent stake in video game firm Activision Blizzard.

For more:
- Reuters has this article
- see this Les Echos article (translated by Google Translate)

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