Takeover worth billions: Satellite operator SES wants to buy Intelsat after all
Two of the world's largest satellite operators come from Luxembourg; last year, merger talks failed. Now a billion-euro takeover has been agreed.
Satellite dishes at the SES headquarters in the Luxembourg municipality of Betzdorf
(Bild: SES)
The Luxembourg satellite operator SES is now taking over its competitor Intelsat, which is also based in the Grand Duchy. SES announced this on Tuesday and explained that the takeover would cost 2.8 billion euros. The merger would create a stronger operator of satellites in different orbits, which would be more resilient in the rapidly changing market, offer more diverse solutions and have more resources at its disposal, the statement said. The new group will continue to be headquartered in Luxembourg, but will also maintain a "significant presence" in the USA. The two companies broke off merger talks a year ago.
Successful at the second attempt
Together, the two companies have a combined order volume of 9 billion US dollars, SES writes. However, the antitrust authorities still have to approve the takeover, which is unlikely to be easy. The deal is therefore not expected to be completed until the second half of 2025.
Only a year ago, SES and Intelsat broke off talks about a possible merger after just a few weeks. However, Intelsat then had to pay USD 421 million following a US court ruling; the talks had allegedly been broken off shortly before and independently of the legal dispute. Both companies are now confident and happy about the takeover plan.
SES and Intelsat are among the largest satellite operators in the world, only OneWeb and SpaceX have more, but smaller ones in orbit thanks to their internet satellites. Together, SES and Intelsat have more than 100 satellites in geostationary orbits and a further 26 in medium earth orbits. These are classic communications satellites that cover entire countries or continents and provide satellite television, for example.
Against the backdrop of SpaceX's meteoric rise, the planned takeover is now part of a consolidation that has already led to several mergers. For example, the US satellite operator Viasat took over its British competitor Inmarsat for more than six billion euros at the end of 2021. SpaceX was unable to prevent this.
(mho)