[Satellite TODAY 10-21-11] SES CEO Romain Bausch plans to invest more than 3 billion euros ($4.1 billion) to expand its presence in Latin America and Asian markets, according to a report published Oct. 20 in Germany’s Handelsblatt.

   Bausch told the paper that he believes demand for satellite capacity in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East would grow at a faster rate than in more developed markets.

“I expect SES will have revenues of at least half a billion euros in emerging markets in five years’ time,” said Bausch. “Fast expansion of our satellite fleet will create the preconditions for satisfying this demand.”

   SES also expects to cover new markets outside Europe with 13 new satellites. Four of those 13 have already been launched, and a fifth, SES-4, is scheduled for orbit by the end of this year. Bausch added that the company also is exploring acquisition options. “We are interested in purchases. We are able to make them thanks to our high liquidity. We could be interested in Malaysia’s Measat or Greece’s Hellas-Sat, the Deutsche Telekom-owned OTE, if they were available,” he said in the report.