Bouygues board rejects Altice offer for telecom unit

The logos of French telecom operators Bouygues Telecom and SFR are seen on a mobile phone store front in Paris, France, June 23, 2015.

/Christian Hartmann

The board of Bouygues unanimously rejected an offer for its telecom unit from European telecom group Altice that sources put at 10 billion euros ($11.16 billion), citing execution risks and confidence in its own growth prospects.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 on Tuesday.The board also believed Bouygues Telecom had the means to return to at least its 2011 EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) margin of 25 percent by 2017. "In addition, the board considers that the offer presents a significant execution risk, which should not be borne by Bouygues, particularly in terms of competition law in both thefixed and mobile markets," Bouygues said.Altice was not immediately available for comment. (Reporting by Dominique Vidalon, Leila Abboud, Gilles Guillaume and Matthieu Protard; Editing by James Regan)