Companies say they won’t pursue the acquisition further
TORONTO and NEW YORK — The joint Altice USA-Rogers Communications months-long pursuit of Cogeco and Cogeco Communications has come to an end, with the companies’ second acquisition offer expiring today and both Altice and Rogers saying they won’t pursue the matter further.
In an email statement sent to Cartt.ca, an Altice spokesperson said: “Our offer to acquire Cogeco in order to own Atlantic Broadband has expired and we do not intend to extend it. We remain committed to our growth strategy and continue to focus on opportunities to drive value for our shareholders.”
Earlier today at an RBC Capital Markets investors’ conference, Rogers CEO Joe Natale commented on the failed bid to buy Cogeco.
“We’re disappointed that we didn’t get the ability to engage with either the Audet family or the Cogeco boards on what is a terrific offer, a highly valued offer. But it wasn’t meant to be, there wasn’t any appetite to follow through or pursue. We’re at a once-in-a-generation crossroads and we’re making capital allocation decisions around 5G, around our footprint in fibre, so we’re going to keep looking at our capital allocation and we’ll go back to our board and have a discussion around next steps, look at our priorities, and move forward,” said Natale.
“Bear in mind that we’re spending the absolute majority of our time, every part of our time, on driving the business forward and the execution I talked about. In the meantime, we continue to leverage the business we have in Quebec. We’ve been there for 35 years and we’ll continue to build,” he added.
Given his comments today and earlier, many are assuming Rogers will soon be selling its Cogeco shares.
