spacetoday.net: Blackstone to buy New Skies

Posted: Mon, Jun 7, 2004, 7:57 AM ET (1157 GMT)
New Skies Satellites announced Sunday that it has accepted an offer by buyout firm The Blackstone Group to acquire the satellite operator for nearly $1 billion. New Skies said it signed a "definitive agreement" to sell the company to Blackstone, a private equity firm, for $956 million, of $7.96 per diluted share. The agreement represents a 14% premium on the company's valuation on April 28, the day before New Skies announced it was in negotiations for the sale of the company, but is slightly below the $8.01/share value the company had at the close of trading on Friday. A meeting of New Skies shareholders is planned within the next 40 days to approve the sale, with the deal expected to pass all regulatory hurdles and close in late 2004 or early 2005. The sale is the latest evidence of consolidation in the satellite communications sector, as existing operators seek options to sell or merge their companies. In April buyout firm KKR purchased PanAmSat for over $4 billion, while Intelsat announced last month it was withdrawing plans for an IPO as it looked at options to sell the company.