A colossus with clay feet. Patrick Drahi built an empire which allowed him to integrate the 20 largest French fortunes. From telecoms to the media, the sixty -something man has multiplied winning bets for more than two decades. Before being caught up in reality and seeing his group crumble under a debt of several tens of billions of euros. Back on a saga that marked French capitalism.
2010-2016: wave of expansion and mega-acquisitions
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The Altice Empire was built thanks to a so -called “Drahi model” method: taking advantage of a period of low interest rate in Europe to buy businesses on credit. The principle: contract loans to acquire companies, then use the profits generated by these same companies to repay the debt. In this type of assembly, the claim is not really amortized: it is refined, replaced by a new loan as the old manages.
Patrick Drahi then established himself as the master of this strategy. Banks trust him because he applies a strict discipline of costs in bought companies – a requirement that seduces investors and shareholders.
In 2014, it spent 13.5 billion euros to buy SFR in Vivendi. Portugal Telecom follow, the American operator Suddenlink, the New York cablevision cable operator, as well as the Sotheby’s auction firm. Altice also invites himself into the media with i24 news and especially BFM/RMC. This frenzy of acquisitions propels Altice among the world’s largest groups of telecoms.
2017: First warning stroke
Three years after SFR, Drahi fails to stop the hemorrhage of subscribers, far from the six million additional customers promised. In Portugal, the integration of the historic operator is also complicated.
Outside the Atlantic, the drastic cost reduction policy certainly makes it possible to display attractive performance, but the cable market declines in front of broadband Internet and streaming. Between June and November 2017, the Altice action loses 50 %. Drahi then proceeds to a profound reshuffle of management.
2021-2023: rise in interest rates
The monetary tightening of the European Central Bank to contain inflation brutally increases the group’s financial burden. With a colossal debt exceeding fifty billion euros, the group is particularly vulnerable: each refinancing becomes more expensive and each deadline more difficult to absorb.
July 2023: The Pereira scandal
On July 13, 2023, the arrest in Portugal of Armando Pereira, co -founder and right arm of Drahi, plunged the group into a major crisis. Accused of corruption, tax fraud and money laundering as part of the “Operation Picoas”, Pereira would have orchestrated a system of occult commissions, depriving the group of hundreds of millions of euros. This case caused a real internal earthquake: several leaders are suspended or resigned. Patrick Drahi denounces that he was “betrayed” by his former partner.
If the group presents itself as a victim in this case, it exacerbates the difficulties of Altice, already confronted with a colossal debt estimated at 60 billion dollars worldwide. The current surveys in France and Portugal lead to a loss of confidence in investors, affecting the valuation of the group and further complicating its management of debt.
2023 – 2025: the big clearance sale
From 2023, the group hired a large series of asset sales to lighten its debt. The group sells its French media branch, Altice Media, including BFM TV and RMC, to the CMA CGM group led by Rodolphe Saadé for 1.55 billion euros, thus marking its release from the media sector in France. At the same time, its data centers are sold to a fund managed by Morgan Stanley for around 535 million euros, generating immediate liquidity.
Its 24.5 % participation in the British BT operator is also sold to the Indian group Bharti Airtel for nearly 3.7 billion euros, while shares in the mobile post and the XPFiber optical fiber network are sold for around 800 million euros.
August 2025: restructuring of debt
In August 2025, the Paris Commercial Court approved a restructuring plan for Altice France debt, allowing the group to reduce its debt in France from 24.1 billion euros to 15.5 billion, a decrease of 8.6 billion. This major operation, one of the largest in Europe for the management of liabilities, lightens the annual financial costs of around 400 million euros and extends the reimbursement deadlines to between 2028 and 2033.
In return, secure creditors, including Blackrock, Pimco and Fidelity, obtain a 31 %participation in the capital of Altice France, while subordinate creditors receive around 14 %, Patrick Drahi retaining a majority of 55 %. This plan, which also includes governance adjustments, opens the way to a possible partial disengagement from the group, in particular via a future sale of SFR.
Patrick Drahi is now commissioned to pilot this sale himself, eleven years after bought the company. But the delay is tight: it only has two years to achieve this goal. After this period, he could be ejected by his creditors, according to confidential documents consulted by La Tribune.
Read also: Patrick Drahi’s telecoms empire collapses under debt
