Imagine joining a company as CEO and finding out you had six months to find $13 million to make large debt payments or the company would face potential financial meltdown. This is the exact scenario Samer Halawi faced when he became the CEO of Thuraya in January 2011.
“We had to tackle the issues of the balance sheet. It needed total refurbishment. We had debt that did not make sense and needed to be restructured,” says Halawi. “We actually restructured our debt three times. We have turned our balance sheet completely upside down, and today, our cashflow has risen to a healthy position and we are now the least leveraged MSS operator.”
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Since 2011 revenues have consecutively increased at a CAGR of 10.9 percent from 2011 to 2014.
“We want to be recognized as a leader in mobile satellite services that provides services which are unique and new to the industry. Thuraya will be an innovative company with happy employees,” says Halawi. VS
Mark Holmes is the editorial director for Via Satellite and Avionics Magazine.
