spacetoday.net: XM Radio raises money for backup satellite

Posted: Fri, Sep 12, 2003, 9:57 AM ET (1357 GMT)
XM Satellite Radio announced Thursday that it sold $150 million of securities, raising the funds it needs to pay for a backup satellite. The company sold 11.3 million shares of common stock to Legg Mason and another large institutional investor to raise the $150 million. The company plans to use the money to pay for XM-4, a backup satellite the company ordered last month from Boeing. XM-4, along with existing backup XM-3, will be used to replace the company's two existing satellites later this decade. Those two spacecraft will gradually lose power in the next several years because of a problem with solar concentrators that was common to the first several Boeing 702 spacecraft. XM planned to use insurance proceeds to pay for XM-4, but has been rejected so far by its insurers. Should XM eventually win its insurance claim, the company plans to use the money raised this week for general corporate purchases, including possible repayment of existing debt