spacetoday.net: Iridium to merge with arm of investment bank

Posted: Wed, Sep 24, 2008, 6:49 AM ET (1049 GMT)
Satellite communications company Iridium Satellite LLC will merge with an affiliate of an investment bank in a move that serves as an alternative to an IPO for the company. Iridium will merge with GHL Acquisition Corp., a publicly-traded division of investment bank Greenhill and Company with no other assets, in a deal that values Iridium at $591 million. The deal effectively allows Iridium the benefits of an initial public offering of stock without going through the actual IPO process. Iridium had been planning to hold an IPO to help raise some of the money needed to develop its next-generation satellite constellation that the company plays to deploy starting early next decade.