spacetoday.net: French government leads investment in Eutelsat

French government leads investment in Eutelsat

Posted: Sat, Jun 21, 2025, 8:38 AM ET (1238 GMT)
The French government is leading an investment of more than $1.5 billion into satellite operator Eutelsat. The company said Thursday it planned to raise $1.56 billion by the end of the year, to be completed in two parts. The French government will become Eutelsat's largest shareholder, more than doubling its current stake to nearly 30%. Eutelsat said the extra capital would help reduce its debt and thus allow the company to take out loans on more favorable terms, such as financing backed by export credit agencies. Eulelsat will need that to both deploy a second generation of OneWeb satellites as well as finance its stake in the IRIS2 system.