Altice USA offers to buy Canada's Cogeco for CAD10.3bn

Broadband communications and video services provider Altice USA has offered to buy Canadian telecommunications and media group Cogeco for around CAD10.3bn in cash.

The plan is for Altice to sell Cogeco’s Canadian assets to the company’s largest long-term shareholder, Rogers Communications, if the acquisition goes through. This will mean that Altice retains only Atlantic Broadband, which is the ninth largest cable operator in the US.

Altice chief executive Dexter Goei said: "We greatly respect and appreciate the legacy the Audet family has created with Cogeco, building an iconic company across Canada and the US that is driven by superior customer service and continuous investments in technology.

"We are pleased to present this very attractive offer for Cogeco, and are confident that Mr. Audet and the Cogeco boards will act in the best interest of all shareholders and fairly evaluate this offer. We look forward to the opportunity to extend Altice USA’s high-quality broadband, video, mobile, and news offerings to more than 1.1 million additional homes and businesses."

The voting shares of Cogeco are held in a company controlled by executive chairman Louis Audet and members of his family.