Satelites Mexicanos S.A. de C.V. (Satmex) late last week filed a motion in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York to dismiss an involuntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition filed by an ad hoc committee of debt holders.

The ad hoc committee, consisting of holders of Senior Secured Floating Rate Notes due 2004 and 10 1/8 Senior Notes due 2004, filed the petition May 25. Rather than letting a U.S. court oversee the restructuring of its debt, Satmex filed for concurso mercantil, a bankruptcy proceeding that will take place in Mexico.

The debate of which legal entity oversees the restructuring centers on the so-called “menoscabo,” a debt owed to the Mexican government by the holding company that owns Satmex. The ad hoc committee contends that if the proceedings take place in Mexico, the menoscabo will receive preferential treatment and would result further delays of reaching an equitable restructuring and providing the financing for the launch of Satmex 6.

Separately, Satmex reach settlement, pending approval by bankruptcy courts in the United States and Mexico, with Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) and Loral Skynet.

Under the terms of the settlement, detailed in a June 28 court filing and made available to Satellite Today July 11, Satmex will have a claim of nearly $3.7 million against SS/L that will be classified as a general unsecured claim in Loral’s bankruptcy proceeding. This claim will resolve various issues between the two companies.

Additionally, Satmex will transfer ownership of two C-band and two Ku-band transponders aboard Satmex 6 to Loral Skynet, which also will provide the insurance for those four transponders. Loral also will move Satmex 6 from Arianespace‘s French Guiana launch facility, where it has been in storage since October 2003 to Loral’s Palo Alto, Calif., facility for recertification.