Vivendi Said to Consider Sale of SFR to Numericable

Vivendi, the French conglomerate that once owned Universal Studios, is considering selling its mobile and Internet unit to the cable operator Numericable, according to a report from Bloomberg News on Tuesday.

Vivendi announced its plans to split off the business, SFR, last year as part of a broader corporate overhaul to focus more on entertainment. The European cellphone and cable operator Altice, which owns 40 percent of Numericable, has previously said it is seeking acquisitions as it plans a $1 billion initial public offering. SFR’s 5.2 million broadband subscribers would give a big boost to Numericable, which has 1.7 million broadband customers.

Speculation about a Numericable-SFR deal has persisted for months, and it was unclear on Tuesday just how serious any current talks might be.

“There was always the feeling that Numericable and SFR would come together,” said Ian Whittaker, an analyst with Liberum Capital. “I think the way people thought it would happen is Vivendi would spin off SFR and then Numericable and SFR would come together post-spin.”

One question, according to Mr. Whittaker, is whether Vivendi, valued at 11.5 billion to 12 billion euros, or around $16 billion, might retain a minority stake in the new business. Numericable raised about $1 billion through its own I.P.O. in November.

“It’s very difficult to see how Vivendi could be paid €12 billion in cash by any new entity,” Mr. Whittaker said.

SFR reported revenue of €11.3 billion in 2012, down 7.3 percent from the previous year. The company, with its 21.2 million wireless customers, accounted for 47 percent of Vivendi’s third-quarter revenue.

Representatives of Vivendi and Numericable declined to comment on Tuesday’s report.

Vivendi has been shedding assets to focus more on its entertainment activities, which include the Universal Music Group and the pay television channel Canal Plus. In October, Vivendi agreed to pay about $1.39 billion to buy the 20 percent stake of Canal Plus France it did not already own.

Around the same time, it also sold the majority of its controlling interest in the video game maker Activision Blizzard for $8.2 billion. In November, the company sold its 53 percent stake in Morocco’s Maroc Telecom to Emirates Telecommunications for €4.2 billion. The company expects to complete that deal early this year.