Rodolphe Saade and his family are behind a €1.55bn ($1.69bn) venture to take the CMA CGM Group further in the news business.
In an unusual acquisition for the liner and logistics group, CMA CGM will take an 80% stake in France’s third-largest media group, Altice Media.
The Saade family holding company Merit France will acquire the remaining 20% stake of the television, radio and digital company.
The move comes after days after CMA CGM abandoned its bid acquire UK logistics company Wincanton.
On 5 March, the liner giant threw in the towel on Wincanton after the haulage company accepted a significantly higher offer of £762m ($974m) from US-listed GXO Logistics.
CMA CGM and the Saade family have since secured an exclusive agreement to acquire Altice.
The deal gives the media enterprise an enterprise value of €1.55bn.
“Through this contemplated acquisition, we have the ambition to pursue our long-term development into the media sector,” said CMA CGM chief executive Rodolphe Saade.
Media mogul
It is not the first move by the liner company into the news business.
The group has been diversifying into newspapers, and in 2022 had a bid accepted to buy the daily La Provence.
The latest move will see the Saade family move on a much bigger scale.
Altice interests include five national and 10 local TV channels, as well as 1,700 employees, of whom 900 are journalists.
Altice Media is listed with annual revenues of €362m and Ebitda of €112m.
“Altice Media’s complementarity with CMA CGM’s existing Media Division and its renowned medias, La Provence, Corse Matin, La Tribune et La Tribune Dimanche, will be a key strength,” Saade said.
“Together, at any time, in any place and on any device, we can be the voice of the challenges resulting from innovation and by economic, social and territorial evolutions.”
Patrick Drahi, founder and owner of Altice, spoke of a close and friendly relationship with Saade for several years.
He expressed confidence that the Saade family, CMA CGM and Merit France would continue to invest and develop Altice Media brands.
CMA CGM Group said it had today entered into a put option for the acquisition, which is expected to be completed in the summer.
The transaction remains subject to consultation of employee representative bodies and regulatory authorities.
