Eutelsat Acquires Asia-Pacific Satellite for $228 Million
By Jeffrey Hill | June 21, 2012
[Satellite TODAY 06-21-12] Eutelsat Communications has acquired the GE-23 satellite from GE Capital for $228 million, the operator announced June 20.
The GE-23 satellite will be renamed Eutelsat 172A. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2012, subject to regulatory approvals. Eutelsat said that the purchase would be financed through its existing liquidity and that it expects the deal to add to earnings per share and EBITDA margin in the first year following the deal.
GE-23 was built by Thales Alenia Space and launched in December 2005 to serve the Asia-Pacific region from the 172 degrees East orbital slot.
The satellite provides Eutelsat with a payload of 20 Ku-band transponders accessing five interconnecting beams and 18 C-band transponders connected to a trans-Pacific beam. GE-23 also offers a broad range of telecom services to a diverse base of blue chip customers that will be integrated into the Eutelsat fleet.