Telecoms & Cable Group Altice Kicks off IPO Process for US Arm

Altice, the telecoms and cable holding company owned by billionaire Patrick Drahi, kicked off on Tuesday the formal process for the initial public offering (IPO) of its U.S. activities in New York.

The debt-fueled group, whose division Altice USA was put together after acquiring Cablevision and Suddenlink Communications, aims to increase its financial firepower to buy assets in the broadband and media businesses in the country, it said in the document filed with the U.S. markets watchdog.

The size of the shares sale and price range have not yet been determined, Altice said in a statement. Sources told Reuters in October that the IPO could raise close to $2 billion.

JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs are the banks serving as joint book-runners on Altice's U.S initial public offering.

(Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain and Gwenaelle Barzic; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)