Israel's Bezeq mobile unit offers to buy rival from Altice for $594 million

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israeli mobile phone operator Pelephone has offered up to 2 billion shekels ($594 million) in cash to buy all of rival HOT Mobile from Patrick Drahi's Altice International, Pelephone's parent company Bezeq Israel Telecom said.

Bezeq said in a regulatory filing late on Tuesday in Tel Aviv that Pelephone has submitted a non-binding letter of intent and that there was no assurance it would lead to negotiations or a deal.

Any deal would need approval from Israel's competition authority, which was not immediately available for comment. HOT Mobile was also not available for comment.

Israeli media have reported that Altice has been exploring options to sell a minority stake in cable company HOT, a significant telecoms rival to Bezeq.

($1 = 3.3695 shekels)

(Reporting by Steven Scheer; Editing by Joe Bavier)