Altice USA said May 5 the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board has sold its remaining stake in the company.
According to Altice USA, CPPIB sold 11.2 million shares to an unnamed broker dealer after the market closed on May 5, “representing substantially all of their remaining stake in the company.” Altice said that consistent with its ongoing share repurchase program, the company purchased about 2.2 million of those shares from the broker dealer for $52 million.
CPPIB was an early backer of Suddenlink Communications, which Altice purchased in 2015 for $9.1 billion. When Altice purchased Cablevision Systems in 2016, CPPIB helped finance that deal along with private equity group BC Partners, acquiring a combined 30% stake in the company for about $1 billion.
Most recently CPPIB was a backer of SearchLight Capital’s $1.4 billion purchase of Frontier Communications’ Northwest assets.
Altice USA stock was one of the top performers in the cable sector in 2019 -- shares were up 65% that year-- but the stock has fallen about 14% in 2020. Altice USA shares were up slightly (1.2%) in early trading May 6, priced at $23.81 each.
At one point CPPIB owned as much as 8.4% of Altice USA’s outstanding shares, but it has gradually sold off pieces of that stake over the years.
