Intelsat completes PanAmSat acquisition
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Intelsat, Ltd. has completed its merger with PanAmSat Holding Corporation. The company says the addition of PanAmSat’s video market expertise, advanced satellite fleet and blue-chip media customer base to Intelsat’s portfolio makes Intelsat is now the largest provider of fixed satellite services (FSS) worldwide to each of the media, network services/telecom and government customer sectors.
David McGlade will continue to serve as Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Intelsat, Ltd. The executive team of the company also includes James Frownfelter, formerly the President and COO of PanAmSat, as Chief Operating Officer; Phillip Spector, Executive Vice President and General Counsel; and Jeffrey Freimark, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Joseph Wright, formerly Chief Executive Officer of PanAmSat, has been appointed Chairman of the Board.
Intelsat acquired all of the outstanding common shares of PanAmSat for approximately $3.2 billion and the total value of the transaction, including PanAmSat debt that was refinanced or remained outstanding, is approximately $6.4 billion. For the twelve-month period ending March 31, 2006, pro forma revenues for the combined company total more than $2.0 billion and adjusted EBITDA for Intelsat (Bermuda), Ltd. on a pro forma combined basis was $1.6 billion. At March 31, 2006, pro forma combined revenue backlog, which is based on long-term customer commitments of up to 15 years, was approximately $8.3 billion.
The new Intelsat has a fleet of 51 satellites and a large, complementary terrestrial infrastructure including eight owned teleports, fiber connectivity and over 50 points of presence in almost 40 cities. It currently carries one out of every four television channels transmitted over fixed satellites and supports 27 DTH platforms worldwide.
It also operates 16 satellites that are part of video neighborhoods around the world and carries more high definition (HD) programming than any other FSS carrier.
“The combined assets of our company provide the highest level of service and network reliability to existing customers, while opening doors to new business opportunities in key communications growth markets such as HD, IPTV and applications resulting from the convergence of video, voice, data and mobility,” says David McGlade, Chief Executive Officer of Intelsat. “This merger creates a strong, next-generation, global communications leader with an unrivaled ability to provide the competitive and sophisticated services consumers and businesses need by leveraging unparalleled satellite, terrestrial and technical expertise.”
The integration process already underway will ensure a smooth and seamless transition for Intelsat’s customers. Intelsat intends to adopt a “one company” operating philosophy and expects to fully integrate PanAmSat’s assets and operations. Since the merger was announced in August 2005, the companies have conducted disciplined integration planning in order to drive the benefits of greater scale and complementary service offerings to customers and to deliver strong operational synergies to the company’s stakeholders. By making key functional and systems decisions ahead of time, Intelsat is positioned for an accelerated start now that the transaction has closed.