(Bloomberg) -- Billionaire Xavier Niel has expressed interest in buying the Portuguese operations of Patrick Drahi’s Altice telecommunications empire, according to people with knowledge of the matter, joining a Saudi phone company and private equity firms in the contest.

Drahi will winnow the bidders to a short list early in the new year, said one of the people, all of whom asked not to be identified because the process is confidential. Representatives for Altice and Iliad, Niel’s French telecom company, declined to comment.

Niel is competing with other bidders, notably Saudi Telecom Co. as well as a group that includes buyout firms Warburg Pincus and Zeno Partners as well as former Credit Suisse Group AG Chairman António Horta-Osório. 

Niel also is trying to expand in Italy, making a fresh attempt in December to combine his Italian business with Vodafone Group Plc’s local operations. 

Drahi, who is selling assets as he seeks to reduce his $60 billion debt pile, has said he would prefer to sell stakes in Altice’s European carriers to buyout firms rather than to other phone companies. He used borrowed money to finance acquisitions for years when interest rates were low. Now borrowing costs are much higher, meaning any eventual debt refinancing will be more expensive. 

Altice also is grappling with a corruption probe in Portugal that’s targeted some of Drahi’s key executives and confidants. 

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