Arini and Silver Point are reportedly pushing for priority treatment for their debt holdings in Altice International. This development occurs within a broader context of financial strain and ongoing negotiations for the telecommunications company founded by billionaire Patrick Drahi. Altice International has been grappling with a substantial debt load, which has led to various restructuring attempts and disagreements with its creditors.
Previous actions by Altice International have included designating Altice Portugal SA and Altice Caribbean Sarl as unrestricted subsidiaries in November 2025. This allowed these units to incur new debt and move assets, effectively shielding them from existing financing agreements. For example, an Altice Portugal division raised $870 million (750 million euros) in new debt to cover upcoming Altice International liabilities, with the potential for an additional $2.17 billion (2 billion euros) from Altice Portugal to boost liquidity. This strategic move raised concerns among creditors, with Bloomberg Intelligence's Aidan Cheslin noting that it left the remaining restricted group (primarily Israel) with a highly leveraged net debt-to-Ebitda ratio of 26x usfijitimes.org.
The financial maneuvers have intensified the dispute between Altice and its creditors. In July 2026, a group of creditors holding Altice International's 2028 secured notes issued a default notice, alleging violations of debt covenants. These creditors claimed that Altice extended $5.7 billion (5 billion euros) in inter-company loans to other group entities and moved assets beyond their reach. They argued that Altice should have offered to repay outstanding debt after "substantially all assets" were removed from their control and that collateral backing inter-company loans was subsequently relocated. This led to a drop of 1.1 points in Altice's 5% 2028 bonds to 67.4 cents on the dollar bondblox.com.
Junior creditors, including GoldenTree Asset Management and CastleKnight Management LP, have hired Jefferies Financial Group Inc. and Milbank LLP as advisers for debt talks, while secured creditors appointed Houlihan Lokey Inc. and Gibson Dunn & Crutcher bloomberg.com. Adding to the complexity, Optimum, another Altice entity, warned creditors in June 2026 of a potential $4 billion tax hit during a restructuring battle. Creditors had formed a cooperation pact, hindering Optimum's ability to raise cash, and some were considering pushing the company into bankruptcy due to its $26 billion debt bloomberg.com.
