U.S. firm makes bid for Cogeco, Rogers to get Canadian assets – CP24 Toronto's Breaking News

MONTREAL — Altice USA Inc. has made an offer worth $10.3 billion to buy Cogeco Inc. and Cogeco Communications Inc. and struck a side agreement to sell the companies’ Canadian assets to Rogers Communications Inc. for $4.9 billion.

New York-based Altice says the all-cash deal includes $800 million for ownership interests and voting shares held by Louis Audet, the executive chairman of Cogeco, and his family.

Altice would pay $106.53 per share for the remaining Cogeco Inc. subordinate voting shares and $134.22 per share for each Cogeco Communications Inc. subordinate voting share.

The offer is a roughly 30 per cent premium on each stock’s one-month volume-weighted average.

Altice has also entered into an arrangement to sell all of Cogeco’s Canadian assets to Rogers, the Montreal-based company’s largest long-term shareholder, if its Cogeco bid is accepted.

Altice would own all the U.S. assets of Cogeco, including Atlantic Broadband, a cable operator providing residential and business customers with broadband, video and telephony services in 11 U.S. states.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 2, 2020.