Altice Europe’s proposed acquisition of Partner Communications has been scrapped due to disagreements over the timeframe – as well as the backdrop of the global economy in the current Covid-19 crisis.
Hot Telecommunication - the Israeli subsidiary of Altice Europe – confirmed that it had “terminated discussions regarding the potential acquisition”, which would have created Israel’s largest mobile operator by subscribers.
Talks over a possible deal began in January. While Altice was keen for a full takeover of Partner Communications, it cautioned at the time that there was no guarantee that “any such transaction” would be agreed.
Altice has thus far been reticent about the deal’s collapse, but Partner has stated that several issues arose in negotiations – in particular, the latter firm had queries about Altice’s financial backing for the deal that it was unable to satisfy. Additionally, Altice was not forthcoming on the details of any recompense if the deal failed.
Partner also noted that the pace of negotiations meant that the deal would not “meet the timeline” that Altice had set out, adding that it had substantial reservations about the “economic situation and bleak prospects for a short recovery”.
