Altice, the acquisitive investment vehicle controlled by billionaire Patrick Drahi, has acquired Teads, the number one video advertising marketplace in the world.

The move is the latest step in Altice’s “convergence” strategy to become a global provider of telecoms, content and advertising. It hopes that by growing its advertising platform it can better monetize its telecoms access and content businesses.

Altice said on Tuesday it has paid bought Teads, which has an audience of more than 1.2bn unique visitors, including 720m via mobile. Teads revenue grew 44 per cent in 2016 to about €187.7m.

The acquisition values Teads at an enterprise value of up to €285m on a cash and debt free basis. The undisclosed acquisition purchase price is subject to Treads achieving certain revenue targets in 2017.

Teads executive chairman Pierre Chappaz and chief executive officer Bertrand Quesada will continue to lead the business going forward, and Mr Chappaz will join Altice’s management board.

Michel Combes, chief executive of Altice, said:

Convergence of telecoms, content, and advertising is at the core of our business. Teads [...] will enable us to offer a truly unique value proposition to brands and agencies on the one hand and the media industry, programmers and distributors on the other.

Altice has taken advantage of low interest rates to fund an acquisition spree. Net debt currently stands at €50.4bn, it disclosed in its full-year results earlier this month.

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