Altice Soars as French Regulator Says He's Open to Mergers

The on-again, off-again merger dance among French phone companies may be back on again. Shares of Altice NV soared as much as 53 percent after Sebastien Soriano, the head of telecom regulator Arcep, told Le Monde newspaper that he’s more open to deals now that the four main phone carriers have invested billions of euros in their networks, as requested by the agency. Orange SA, Iliad SA and Bouygues SA also gained amid speculation that debt-laden Altice’s French unit, SFR, will attract an offer.