After a month-long takeover battle cable company Numericable has won the bid to buy mobile phone operator SFR.<br /><br />Numericable offered 13.5 billion euros in cash and a 20 percent share in the combined company.<br /><br />Following owner Vivendi’s decision to sell SFR to Numericable shares in the cable operator bounced some 15 percent. <br /><br />Company founder Patrick Drahi is delighted by the acquisition:<br />“We’re going to create a national champion, a European champion by bringing together two excellent companies, with different but very complementary histories.”<br /><br />The purchase means SFR/Numericable has some 28 million customers for its fixed line and mobile services, second only to Orange.<br /><br />Bouygues lost out in the bidding war, despite being the governments prefered bidder, and has seen its shares drop as a result.<br /><br />Vivendi said the deal with Numericable had more chance of regulatory approval.
