New Skies Satellites Holding Ltd. became the second private equity-owned satellite operator to file for an initial public offering (IPO) of stock with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the past two months.

According to the Jan. 27 Form S-1 filed with the SEC, New Skies is looking to raise $350 million, though the company did not reveal in this filing how many shares or how much per share the offering would entail.

The Form S-1 stated that the company intends to use about $178 million of the net proceeds from the sale to repay outstanding indebtedness and about $93.5 million to pay a dividend to investment funds affiliated with private equity owner The Blackstone Group.

The Form S-1 lists Goldman Sachs & Co., Lehman Brothers, USB Investment Bank, Deutsche Bank Securities, Bank Of America Securities LLC and Wachovia Securities as the underwriters of the IPO.

Panamsat’s group of private equity owners-Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. LP, The Carlyle Group and Providence Equity Partners Inc.–filed for an IPO on Dec. 20, 2004.