PARIS - Patrick Drahi, the billionaire behind telecoms and media group Altice, agreed on Monday to buy historic art auction house Sotheby's in a deal worth US$3.7 billion on an enterprise value basis.
The acquisition will also allow avid art collector Drahi to join rival French billionaire Francois Pinault at the top of the art world, with Pinault's financial holding company Artemis owning a majority stake in Sotheby's rival Christie's. Drahi said on Monday that he would remain focused on his main telecoms and media businesses and would not sell any shares in his Altice Europe NV business to fund his acquisition of Sotheby's auction house.
Sotheby's about five years ago ended a long-running fight with activist investor Daniel Loeb's hedge fund Third Point, by asking Loeb and two associates to join the Sotheby's board, and Loeb was instrumental in hiring Smith as chief executive.The price"affirms the value we saw when we first invested in Sotheby's, and rewards long-term investors like Third Point who believed in its potential," Loeb told Reuters.