Case Summaries · Stressed credits

Altice International: the dropdown, the default notice and the 2027 wall

Altice International moved its Portugal and Dominican businesses outside its bondholders’ restricted group in November 2025 and raised €750m ahead of them. Holders of the 2028 notes have sent a default notice, about €3.1bn falls due in 2027 and no public restructuring proposal has emerged.

By EURx · 3 October 2026 · Thread on X

Drahi built Altice International through debt-funded acquisitions

Patrick Drahi built French cable companies in the mid-1990s and founded Altice in 2001.¹ He took full control of HOT, the Israeli cable operator, in 2011 and 2012, then agreed to buy Orange Dominicana in November 2013 for about $1.4bn.¹² He bought SFR from Vivendi in 2014 for about €17bn and completed the €7.4bn purchase of Portugal Telecom in June 2015.³

SFR sits in Altice France. Portugal, Israel and the Dominican Republic sit in Altice International. Going into 2024 Altice France carried about €24bn of debt⁴ and Altice International €9.2bn of net debt.⁵

The first problems surfaced at Altice Portugal in 2023

In July 2023 Portuguese police detained Altice co-founder Armando Pereira in an investigation into corruption, tax fraud and money laundering focused on Altice Portugal’s procurement. A court placed him under house arrest on 25 July. He denied wrongdoing.⁶ Altice bonds fell across the group as the case became public.⁷

Cheaper rivals have pushed prices down in France and Portugal

SFR lost about 1.3m subscribers in 2024, most of them on mobile, according to its full-year results.⁸ In Portugal, Digi launched on 4 November 2024 with prices well below MEO, NOS and Vodafone, and the incumbents answered with their own low-cost brands.⁹ MEO is Altice Portugal’s consumer brand.

Drahi restructured Altice France first

Altice France’s restructuring closed on 1 October 2025. It took €8.6bn of debt off and left €15.5bn of net debt.¹⁰ Creditors took about 45% of the equity and Drahi kept control.⁴ Altice International’s creditors had already signed their own cooperation agreement in February 2025.¹¹ With the France deal done and bids for SFR coming in (Bouygues, Free and Orange offered about €17bn in October 2025),¹² Drahi turned to Altice International.

On 28 November 2025 Portugal and the Caribbean left the restricted group

Altice International designated Altice Portugal and Altice Caribbean, which holds the Dominican business, as unrestricted subsidiaries under each of its debt documents. Altice Caribbean is now held by a direct subsidiary of Altice Group Lux.¹³ CreditSights estimated the two businesses at about 80% of EBITDA.¹⁴

The same day, a subsidiary of Altice Portugal raised €750m in a private financing and Altice International reserved €2.0bn of further debt capacity at Altice Portugal. The company said the money was for general corporate purposes, including working capital and upcoming payments on existing Altice International debt.¹³ Because it sits at Altice Portugal, the new debt ranks structurally ahead of the existing bonds.

The company calls the lender a related party and does not name it

Altice International’s results describe the financing as a contribution from a related party.¹⁵ Bloomberg reported on 19 December 2025 that Elliott Management had lent a holding company of Altice International money to refinance more than €500m of debt.¹⁶ Much of the market assumes the two are connected. No filing we have seen links them.

By 30 June 2026 the financing stood at €796m at 12% due 2029, including a €23m upfront fee and €23m of capitalised interest. The Q2 release leaves it out of pro forma net debt.¹⁷

The bonds fell sharply on the November announcement

The $ 5.75% senior secured notes due 2029 fell more than 7 points to below 67 cents, based on Trace data reported by Bloomberg.¹⁸ The two subordinated bonds fell about 35 points to 16 and 19 cents, their worst day on record, according to the FT.¹⁹ A research note quoted by Bloomberg put what remains, mainly Israel, at about 26 times annualised net debt to EBITDA.¹⁸

Holders of the 2028 notes sent a default notice in July

Neither the steering committee nor Drahi has put out a public proposal since November. On 14 July 2026 holders of the 2028 senior secured notes sent a default notice alleging covenant breaches tied to moving the assets out of creditors’ reach, Bloomberg reported. The FT put the holdings behind the notice at €2bn. Both sides declined to comment.²⁰

The steering committee is reported to include Sona, Arini and King Street.²¹ Its members are reported to have signed a cooperation agreement running to January 2028, which can be extended to August 2029 to line up with their maturities.²⁰

HOT Mobile is being sold for NIS 1.22bn

On 1 July 2026 Altice International said HOT had agreed to sell 100% of HOT Mobile to Delek Israel, Keystone and Leumi Partners for NIS 1.22bn in cash, with completion expected by the end of 2026.²² That is about €355m. The Competition Authority cleared the deal on 5 August and the Ministry of Communications approved it on 31 August.²³ The company says the sale reduces adjusted EBITDA by €93m on an LTM basis.¹⁷ We have not seen a completion announcement.

The restricted group has about €3.1bn due in 2027

At 30 June 2026, pro forma for the unrestricted designation and the HOT Mobile sale, Altice International reported net debt of €7.96bn (actual €8.91bn), a weighted average maturity of 1.9 years and pro forma liquidity of €0.60bn. In Q2 2026 the restricted group reported revenue of €285m and EBITDA of €88m.¹⁷ About €2.8bn more falls due in 2028.

Pro forma figures as of 30 June 2026 from the Q2 2026 release.¹⁷ The €796m Altice Portugal financing is excluded because the company treats it as a related-party contribution.

Where it trades as of 2 October

The € 3% secured notes due January 2028 are around 55, the $ 5.75% secured notes due 2029 around 64 and the euro term loan around 56. The structure is generally better offered. These are indicative levels, not executable prices.

What we are watching next

Whether the 2028 holders take the default notice further, what happens with the 2027 term loans and where the HOT Mobile cash goes.

Sources

Capital structure and financing terms come from Altice International’s own releases. There is no court process yet, so creditor positions, the default notice and price moves come from press and research reporting, cited for each point. We have not used any non-public material.

1. Wikipedia, Altice (company) link
2. Altice, agreement to acquire Orange Dominicana, 26 November 2013 link
3. AFP via ETTelecom, Altice finalises acquisition of Portugal Telecom, 3 June 2015 link
4. IFR, Altice France’s €24bn restructuring, 17 December 2025 link
5. Altice International, Q1 2024 results, 28 May 2024 link
6. Reuters, 25 July 2023 link
7. Mobile Europe, 26 July 2023 link
8. Univers Freebox, SFR 2024 results, 16 April 2025 link
9. Observador, 21 November 2024 link
10. Mayer Brown, October 2025 link
11. Bloomberg, February 2025
12. Powered Magazine, 9 June 2026 link
13. Altice International, measures taken to strengthen liquidity, 28 November 2025 link
14. CreditSights, 5 December 2025 link
15. Altice International, Q3 2025 results, 28 November 2025 link
16. Bloomberg, 19 December 2025
17. Altice International, Q2 2026 results, 26 August 2026 link
18. Bloomberg, reporting on the November 2025 bond moves
19. Financial Times, reporting on the November 2025 bond moves
20. Bloomberg and Financial Times, reporting on the default notice and cooperation agreement, July 2026
21. 9fin, Altice creditors and the dropdown link
22. Altice International, agreement for the disposal of HOT Mobile, 1 July 2026 link
23. Globes, sale of HOT Mobile receives final approval, 31 August 2026 link