LONDON - Bouygues of France said on Thursday that it had raised its bid for SFR, the mobile phone unit of the French media conglomerate Vivendi, by nearly 1 billion euros.
Bouygues. the owner of Bouygues Telecom, France’s third-largest mobile carrier, said it had offered €11.3 billion, or about $15.8 billion, for 52 percent of SFR, in a deal that would allow Vivendi to retain a 43 percent stake. A minority shareholder in Bouygues Telecom, JCDecaux, would hold the remaining shares of SFR.
The revised offer values SFR at nearly €20 billion, including cost savings, Bouygues said. The company had previously offered about €10.5 billion for a slightly smaller stake.
Bouygues is competing for SFR against the cable and cellphone operator Altice, as Vivendi looks to increase its capital reserves and expand its existing media assets, such as the pay-television provider Canal Plus. Vivendi had previously considered an initial public offering of SFR.
The bidding war pits the French entrepreneur Patrick Drahi, who since 2002 has built Altice into a global operation with cable and cellphone assets in Europe and the Caribbean, against Martin Bouygues, the billionaire who runs the diversified industrial group that bears his name.
Altice has offered around $20 billion to buy SFR through a mixture of debt financing, equity and assets, according to people with direct knowledge of the bid.
Vivendi’s board is expected to meet on Friday to consider the offers.
As part of its offer, Bouygues has said it would list the combined cellphone unit through an I.P.O. that would allow Vivendi to sell a further 15 percent of its stake in SFR.
“Bouygues is committed to facilitate the liquidity of Vivendi’s interest in the new entity,†the company said.
