Altice USA Taps Goldman Sachs to Assess Lightpath Unit – Report

Discussions involving fiber-powered business services division could lead to a sale or bringing on an investor, Reuters says.

Jeff Baumgartner, Senior Editor

March 8, 2019

2 Min Read
Altice USA Taps Goldman Sachs to Assess Lightpath Unit – Report

Altice USA has taken a step toward determining the fate of Lightpath, its fiber-based commercial services unit, by hiring Goldman Sachs to help with the process, according to a Reuters report on Friday.

Reuters called those discussions "early," but noted that Altice USA is looking at multiple options, including an outright sale or bringing an investor on board.

Altice USA does not break out Lightpath financials, but the unit brings in more than $200 million per year in EBITDA, Reuters reported, citing an unnamed source said to be familiar with the company. Altice USA posted $348.08 million in business services and wholesale revenues in Q4, up 5.3% versus the year-ago quarter.

The eventual fate of Lightpath has been a topic of speculation in recent weeks, and a sale would appear to fit well with a strategy that Altice Europe has used through the sale of certain fiber assets aimed in part to help the company reduce its debt load.

Last month on the company's Q4 earnings call, Altice USA CEO Dexter Goei said the company has been "pretty open that we are reviewing the Lightpath asset and working work internally to see whether anything makes sense strategically to do with that asset."

He later called Lightpath an asset that has become "less core" to Altice USA's overall business.

"If we were to look at monetizing some or all of Lightpath assets, it's because it becomes very attractive for shareholder value creation...If we were to look at monetizing some or all of Lightpath assets, it's because it becomes very attractive for shareholder value creation," Goei said at the time.

Altice USA has been asked for further comment.

Cowen & Co. believes that a sale of Lightpath could bring in up to $4 billion and give its stock a shot in the arm. Those analysts also identified ZenFi, OCG and Conterra among the most likely potential suitors for Lightpath, alongside possibilities that could involve Crown Castle, Charter Communications and CenturyLink.

According to Vertical System Group's latest US Cable MSO Ethernet Leaderboard, Altice USA ranks fourth among its cable industry peers. Spectrum Enterprise, Charter's business services unit, tops the latest list, followed by Comcast and Cox Communications. Of that group, Comcast and Spectrum Enterprise had the highest Ethernet port growth in 2018, according to VSG's analysis.

Cogent heads up VSG's US Ethernet Leaderboard for "Competitive Providers" for 2018, followed by Zayo, GTT and Sprint. CenturyLink topped the "Incumbent Carriers" list, followed by AT&T, Verizon, Windstream and Frontier.

Related posts:

— Jeff Baumgartner, Senior Editor, Light Reading

About the Author

Jeff Baumgartner

Senior Editor, Light Reading

Jeff Baumgartner is a Senior Editor for Light Reading and is responsible for the day-to-day news coverage and analysis of the cable and video sectors. Follow him on X and LinkedIn.

Baumgartner also served as Site Editor for Light Reading Cable from 2007-2013. In between his two stints at Light Reading, he led tech coverage for Multichannel News and was a regular contributor to Broadcasting + Cable. Baumgartner was named to the 2018 class of the Cable TV Pioneers.

Subscribe and receive the latest news from the industry.
Join 62,000+ members. Yes it's completely free.

You May Also Like