French Telecom Altice Shows No Sign Of Retreat In TWC Purchase
According to Reuters, the French telecommunications group has been in talks to buy TWC and is also close to acquiring Suddenlink. Altice SA wants desperately to move into the U.S. cable market, and buying out existing players would be the quickest way to do that. It's also an expensive game plan, though that doesn't seem to bother Patrick Drahi, the French billionaire who has a controlling stake in Altice SA.
![Time Warner Cable](https://hothardware.com/ContentImages/NewsItem/33748/content/Time_warner_cable.jpg)
Ever since taking Altice public a year and a half ago, Drahi has been on a buying spree. However, when it comes to acquiring TWC, he's facing competition from at least two other suitors in Charter and Cablevision.
Charter in particular seems to be highly motivated -- the company tried to woo TWC in January of last year, but its bid of $132.50 per share in cash and stock was rejected. It then tried a hostile takeover by taking its bid directly to shareholders; that's when Comcast swooped in with a $45.2 billion offer that was accepted.