AsiaSat Ready To Delist ADSs

[Satellite Today – 1-9-08] AsiaSat intends to de-list its American Depositary Shares (ADSs) from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and terminate its American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) program, the company announced Jan. 9. Each ADS represents 10 AsiaSat ordinary shares.
    AsiaSat expects to file a Form 25 with the Securities and Exchange Commission in around one week’s time with the delisting becoming effective 10 days after this filing. As part of the delisting process, AsiaSat has also given written notice to The Bank of New York, as depositary of the ADR program, of its intention to terminate the ADR program. At AsiaSat’s request, The Bank of New York will cease to issue new ADRs as of the close of business on Jan. 11 (New York time) and terminate the offering made under the registration statement filed as Form F-6 with respect to the un-issued ADSs.
    In 2007, AsiaSat was part of the wide-ranging GE/SES Global deal that saw GE acquire a 34+ percent stake in the operator from SES. CITIC Group is the major shareholder with a 34.8 percent stake in the satellite operator.
    In other AsiaSat news, the operator said today that it had signed a capacity deal with Trace to distribute the international urban music and culture television channel to Asian cable and satellite networks and pay TV platforms through AsiaSat 2’s pan Asian C-band platform.