Intelsat Ltd. filed a preliminary prospectus with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to conduct the company’s initial public stock offering (IPO). The offering, managed by Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch, would be priced in a range between $12 and $14 a share.

Intelsat reported in February that it planned to raise $500 million through the IPO. In addition, certain Intelsat shareholders would be able to sell ordinary shares as part of the public offering. The company would not receive any of the proceeds from the sale of ordinary shares by the selling shareholders. Rather, the company’s proceeds from the offering would go toward general corporate purposes and, if needed, to repay $200 million in principal for the company’s 8 3/8-percent notes due Oct. 14, 2004. Intelsat’s proposed NYSE ticker symbol would be IS.

For in-depth coverage of this story, see the March 22 issue of Satellite News. For more information about subscribing to PBI Media’s satellite newsletters, check out our Web site at www.satellitetoday.com.