A steering committee of Altice International’s lenders has today (13 October) filed a lawsuit against the company in the New York Supreme Court, alleging a “multi-year scheme” to unlawfully transfer billions of dollars in assets out of creditors’ reach, according to court filings.
The lawsuit names entities tied to Arini, King Street, Invesco, Sona, Diameter, Rockford Tower, and Elliott as plaintiffs. Together with other funded creditors, they hold $11bn of debt issued by Altice International and various group entities, which are named as defendants.
This marks the second lawsuit in two weeks against Patrick Drahi controlled businesses after creditors sued Optimum Communications, formerly Altice USA, on 28 September, as 9fin reported.
In today’s lawsuit, Altice International’s creditors accuse Drahi of having played a “shell game” with creditors, through the cancellation of billions of dollars of intercompany loans and the transfer of equity in group entities and affilites away from the reach of creditors.
The complaint describes Drahi’s playbook as the “Altice Way” —“ borrow as much as possible, then squeeze the lenders” — citing an Economist article.
Creditors assert 27 claims including breach of contractual protections in the financing...
