Altice NV said it expects to close on its $17.7 billion acquisition of Cablevision at the end of the second quarter and that it doesn't expect to do any more U.S. cable deals in the near term.
Speaking to investors in Paris Tuesday during Altice's full-year earnings report, U.S. operations CEO Dexter Goei said his company is putting off any more acquisitions and is currently in a "year of integration and operation." (The event was covered by the Hollywood Reporter and other pubs.)
"We don't anticipate doing anything else outside possible small deals or a French deal this year," Goei added.
He also struck a hopeful note that its bid to acquire Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) will clear successive hurdles with New Jersey and New York regulators, both of which will conclude their regulatory reviews in April. The FCC, he said, is expected to rule at the beginning of May.
Altice executives, meanwhile, were enthusiastic about their recently closed $9.1 billion, 70 percent acquisition of Suddenlink Communications, noting that customer losses on the video side are finally decelerating following a decision in October 2014 to drop Viacom channels.
"As Suddenlink puts more quarters under its belt since the Viacom decision, the business is returning closer to its historical growth rate," Goei said.
In terms of its earnings report, Altice experienced flat revenue growth in 2015 to $15.75 billion, with its French mobile phone unit, SFR, accounting for about half of sales.
For more:
- read this Hollywood Reporter story
- read this Wall Street Journal story
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