PARIS—Two investment funds have agreed to partner with Altice NV on its $10 billion bid to acquire U.S.-based cable firm Cablevision Systems Corp., deepening their involvement with European cable-to-telecoms tycoon Patrick Drahi.

Private-equity firm BC Partners and Canadian pension fund CPP Investment Board agreed to take a 30% equity stake in Cablevision for $1 billion, they said Tuesday. Altice previously said the funds had an option to buy a 30% stake in the New-York based cable operator when announcing the takeover in September.

The agreement means that the acquisition of Cablevision is now fully funded. Altice earlier sold $8.6 billion in new Cablevision debt and $1.8 billion in new equity to finance the $17.7 billion purchase, which includes debt. The takeover is set to make Altice—which has built an empire stretching from Israel to France—the no. 4 cable operator in the U.S. with 4.6 million customers stretching over 20 states

The pact is also a further vote of confidence in Mr. Drahi's business model, which has relied on heavy debt to finance an acquisition spree. The two private equity groups also partnered with Altice on its takeover of U.S. cable firm Suddenlink earlier this year, selling 70% of Suddenlink to Altice but retaining the other 30%.

"[We] are highly confident in Altice's ability to further enhance network quality, increase customer satisfaction, and meaningfully improve financial performance at Cablevision," said Raymond Svider, co-chairman and managing partner of BC Partners.

Altice has been positioning itself to disrupt the U.S. market in recent months. By importing a European business model of bundling cable TV, high-speed Internet and fixed and mobile phone services, the company eventually plans to undercut rivals that sell them separately.

Chief Executive Dexter Goei said in September that investing alongside private-equity firms would make it more likely that Altice would list its U.S. business in the future, allowing these firms a way to exit the venture. "That is clearly something we'll be looking at over time," he said when asked about the possibility.

Write to Inti Landauro at inti.landauro@wsj.com and Nick Kostov at Nick.Kostov@wsj.com

 

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 27, 2015 11:45 ET (15:45 GMT)

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