Altice France lined up the sale of a minority equity stake of 49.99 per cent in its fibre optic company SFR FTTH to three investment funds for €1.8 billion.

Allianz Capital Partners, AXA Investment Managers and OMERS Infrastructure are investing in the unit, in a deal which values it at €3.6 billion. The transaction is expected to occur in H1 2019.

Altice Europe founder Patrick Drahi said: “With this transformational transaction and the various tower sales and partnerships announced earlier this year, Altice Europe has been able to crystallise €8 billion of infrastructure value and obtain cash proceeds of €4 billion in total in a few months.”

Earlier this year the company sold its tower business in the Dominican Republic to Phoenix Tower International, while in June it forged a €2.5 billion agreement to sell a stake in its tower assets in France and Portugal.

It also spun off its US business in January and entered into an agreement to sell its international voice business two months later.

Drahi added Altice Europe and its France unit “will deleverage and will have access to new and cheaper liquidity to invest in its fibre infrastructure”.

The news comes after Altice Europe confirmed last month it is conducting a strategic review of its fibre infrastructure, following speculation the telecoms group had received numerous bids from private equity players seeking a stake.