In one of the largest IPOs of 2017, Shearman & Sterling advised Altice USA, Inc. on its initial public offering of 71,724,139 shares of Class A common stock at a price to the public of $30.00 per share.  Of the shares of Class A common stock included in the offering, 12,068,966 shares were sold by Altice USA and 59,655,173 shares were sold by sponsor stockholders (including 7,781,110 shares purchased by the underwriters pursuant to their fully exercised over-allotment option), resulting in total gross proceeds of approximately $2.15 billion.  The shares began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “ATUS” on June 22, 2017. The IPO involved a reorganization in which the Company’s parent, Altice N.V., received Class B common shares with 25 votes per share versus the single vote Class A common shares sold to the public and retained by the sponsors and other existing shareholders.  Non-voting Class C common shares were also authorized in the amended certificate of incorporation, although none were issued at the time of the IPO.

J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC acted as joint book-running managers for the offering and representatives of the underwriters, together with BofA Merrill Lynch, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole CIB, Deutsche Bank Securities and RBC Capital Markets as additional joint book-running managers.

Altice USA is one of the largest broadband communications and video services providers in the United States. Through its Optimum, Suddenlink and Lightpath brands, it delivers broadband, pay television, telephony services, Wi-Fi hotspot access, proprietary content and advertising services to approximately 4.9 million residential and business customers across 21 states with more than 8.5 million homes passed.

The firm previously advised Altice USA on its $17.7 billion acquisition of Cablevision Systems Corporation, as well as on its recent acquisition of Audience Partners, a leading provider of data-driven, audience-based digital advertising solutions worldwide.

The Shearman & Sterling team was led by partner Richard Alsop (New York-Capital Markets) and associates Rupa Briggs (New York-Capital Markets), Victor Nilsson and Charles Zamiskie (both New York-Corporate).  Other Shearman & Sterling lawyers involved in the transaction were partners Scott Petepiece (New York-Mergers & Acquisitions), Doreen Lilienfeld (New York-Compensation, Governance & ERISA), Alan Goudiss (New York-Litigation) and Kyungwon Lee (New York-Capital Markets); counsels George Spera and Gillian Moldowan (both New York-Compensation, Governance and ERISA); and associates Derrick Lott (New York-Mergers & Acquisitions), Nell Beekman (New York-Compensation, Governance and ERISA), Yoon-jee Kim (New York-Capital Markets), Kimball Smith (New York-Mergers & Acquisitions) and Melisa Brower (New York-Compensation, Governance and ERISA).