Posted: Tue, Sep 16, 2003, 9:33 PM ET (0133 GMT)
Three investment groups have submitted bids to acquire satellite communications company Inmarsat, according to recent reports. Communications Update reported last week that two investment groups, one led by American companies Apollo Management LP and Soros Private Equity and the other led by European companies Apax Partners and Permira, have submitted bids of between $1 and $1.5 billion for the company. Space News reported Friday that a third bid was submitted by US-based Madison Dearborn Partners LLC, which offered $450 million for 30 percent of the company and a promise of a larger payoff through a stock offering next year. Inmarsat, privatized in 1999, had planned to go public but held back because of poor market conditions. The company's major shareholders, which include several European telecom companies, decided last year not to wait for market conditions to improve and instead sell the company privately.

Related Links:

•  Communications Update article
•  Space News article