LONDON â€" Altice, the European cable and mobile operator, raised 1.3 billion euros in an initial public offering on Friday, as the telecommunications company pays down its debt and looks for potential acquisitions across the Continent.
Founded by the French entrepreneur Patrick Drahi in 2002, Altice said it sold 46.1 million shares at €28.25, or about $38.29, a share. Altice sold €750 million of new shares and a further €550 million of existing shares owned by Mr. Drahi’s holding company Next L.P., raising the €1.3 billion, or about $1.8 billion.
The pricing gives the company, which has operations in several European countries and the Caribbean, a market value of €5.7 billion. Altice’s shares starting trading in Amsterdam.
European cellphone and cable companies are attempting to consolidate their operations across the Continent, and both Liberty Global and the British telecoms operator Vodafone are said to be mulling an offer for the Spanish cable firm Ono that could value the company at around $10 billion.
John C. Malone’s Liberty Global agreed to buy the Dutch cable operator Ziggo on Monday for around $13.7 billion.
Mr. Drahi of Altice told reporters earlier this month that his cable and mobile company was also looking at up to 10 potential acquisitions to expand its existing businesses or move into new countries. He did not provide specifics on which firms Altice was targeting.
Speculation, however, has centered on the French cellphone operator SFR, which is currently being spun out of the European conglomerate Vivendi.
Altice owns a 40 percent stake in the French cable operator Numericable, which also raised around $1 billion through its own initial public offering in November. And analysts have said that a potential deal for SFR could offer Numericable the ability to diversify its operations within France.
Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley coordinated Altice’s I.P.O., while Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and HSBC participated in the listing.
