Bouygues SA share price up, extends the deadline of its offer for Vivendi’s SFR unit

Bouygues SA made an official statement today, revealing that it has extended the deadline of its offer to Vivendi SA for the acquisition of its SFR phone division from April 8th to April 25th.

The company said in its statement, which was cited by Bloomberg, that it would provide Vivendi SA with “time to examine its offer in a calm and detailed manner”. The talks between Vivendi and Altice are expected to end by April 4th, when there is a Vivendi board meeting scheduled.

In March 2014 Bouygues SA began to work in cooperation with a number of French investors, including a French state entity, in order to increase the cash part of its offer from 11 billion euros to 13.15 billion euros, renewing the bidding war with Altice once again. The company also revealed that a 500-million-euro breakup fee is to be paid by Bouygues to Vivendi in case the purchase would not get the approval of the countrys antitrust authorities.

Bouygues SA said in its statement, which was cited by the Wall Street Journal: “In doing so, Bouygues wishes to allow Vivendi the time to examine its offer in a calm and detailed manner and to proceed with all the necessary discussions that such an important operation requires.”

Vivendi has started exclusive negotiations about the acquisition of its SFR telephone division with Altice, which are expected to end on April the 4th. According to people with knowledge of the situation, Altices bid is preferred by Vivendi due to the fact that such a deal is more likely to get an approval from antitrust regulators. Vivendi was also reported by the people close to the process of negotiations to be expecting Altice to narrow the difference between its own offer and the one of Bouygues SA.

Bouygues SA was up 1.47% at 30.72 euros per share by 10:52 GMT in Paris, marking a one-year change of +45.18%. The company is valued at 9.67 billion euros. According to the Financial Times, the 13 analysts offering 12 month price targets for Bouygues SA have a median target of 30.50 euros, with a high estimate of 35.00 euros and a low estimate of 21.00 euros. The median estimate represents a 0.74% increase from the previous close of 30.28 euros.