Mayer Brown has advised Altice Numericable on the structuring and the tax aspects of its acquisition of SFR, the second largest mobile phone operator in France, from the media group Vivendi.

Altice Numericable secured the bid 15.57 billion bid (13.5 billion euro and a 20 percent stake in the combined group) in what is thought to be one of the largest leveraged finance deals in Europe since 2008.

Numericable owner, Patrick Drahi has promised to create a leader in fixed and mobile bundled offers by marrying the French cable company with Vivendi's SFR telecom unit. With a network covering two-thirds of households, Numericable is one of the largest cable companies in France. Drahi brought other private equity funds to help fund Numericable's development. Mayer Brown was already involved in those Private Equity deals.

Mayer Brown has previously advised Altice Numericable on several private equity and acquisition transactions, including its purchase of Outremer Telecom.

The Mayer Brown team working on the transaction included Tax Partners Laurent Borey and Olivier Parawan, who were assisted by associates Nathalie Jacquart and Nicolas Danan.