SES S.A. has entered into an agreement to acquire 100% of the shares of the American satellite company Intelsat S.A. in an agreement worth $3.1 billion (2.8 billion euros). This is reported in the SES press release.
The transaction will be financed from available cash and cash equivalents, worth 2.4 billion euros, as well as the issuance of new debt obligations, including hybrid bonds.
In addition, SES will provide the rights to the notional value of a portion of the potential monetization of the combined rights to share the C-band spectrum with a frequency of up to 100 MHz.
The headquarters of the combined SES company will be located in Luxembourg and will maintain a significant presence in the United States, especially in Washington, DC.
The transition of the satellite communications market from video broadcasting to data transmission services leads to rapid consolidation in the sector. The deal is aimed at creating a combined American-European company worth more than $10 billion amid significant pressure from competitors and strengthening the position of SpaceX's Starlink satellite broadband Internet. As a result of the transaction, a multi-orbital operator with a wide coverage area, increased fault tolerance and an expanded set of solutions will be created.
SES expects to significantly increase the company's value to shareholders, expand its capabilities to provide advanced solutions, and strengthen SES' competitive position by offering a more reliable portfolio of solutions for government agencies, mobile communications, fixed data and multimedia segments.
The transaction is expected to be completed in the second half of 2025, subject to regulatory approval. Intelsat shareholders, who own 73% of the ordinary shares, have concluded agreements to support the transaction.
Guggenheim Securities, Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc act as financial advisors.
In June 2023, the American satellite company Intelsat SA withdrew from merger talks with Luxembourg competitor SES S.A. by mutual agreement. Negotiations on the merger of Intelsat and SES continued for three months. However, the participants in the proposed transaction were unable to agree on business priorities and terms of a possible merger.
Intelsat is an American telecommunications company and the largest satellite company in the world. Intelsat has offices in Brazil, China (Hong Kong), India, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, South Africa and Singapore. The headquarters is located in Tyson (Virginia).
SES is a global satellite operator headquartered in Betzdorf (Luxembourg). The company is listed on the Euronext stock Exchange in Paris and on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. SES ranks second in the world in terms of turnover among satellite operators and owns the O3b group of 55 geostationary satellites. The company's shares are listed on the Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchanges (ticker: SESG).
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