French conglomerate Bouygues on Tuesday snubbed an offer for its telecom unit from larger rival Altice that sources put at 10 billion euros ($11.2 billion), citing execution risks and confidence it could prosper on its own, reports Reuters.
The board believes Bouygues Telecom is well placed to benefit from a new period of growth in the telecoms market, underpinned by digital usage, Bouygues said in a statement.
It added that the offer presents a "significant execution risk, which should not be borne by Bouygues, particularly in terms of competition law in both the fixed and mobile markets".
The move comes as a blow to Patrick Drahi, the billionaire backer of Altice, owner of mobile operator Numericable-SFR, who has bought four companies in the past 18 months.
Altice could not be immediately reached for comment.
If successful the deal would have combined the current No. 2 and No. 3 mobile operators to create France’s biggest telecoms group and taken the French mobile market from four to three players at a time when the merits of such consolidation are being hotly debated in Europe.
The board's decision also follows opposition from President François Hollande's Socialist government who had expressed concern over the deal, saying it could be bad for jobs, consumers and investment.
Bouygues's board said it paid "great attention" to the social consequences of the deal.