SPAC boom shines path for capital-intensive satellite companies

8 October, 2020

The resurgent special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) market has found its second pure-play space company in Momentus, a US-based startup facilitating ‘last-mile’ deliveries of already launched satellites. With alternatives to traditional M&A set to play an important role in COVID-19 recovery strategies, pioneering satellite ventures appear well-suited to leverage intense activity in this market to hit sizeable capex demands.

However, the growing trend comes amid warnings of a potential bubble as the low interest rate environment...

Read more

Buyout firms seeing opportunity for telcos weighed down by fibre deployments

25 August, 2020

Heavy fibre capex demands in battered economies are opening up opportunities for private equity, reportedly encouraging British telecoms incumbent BT to shore up its takeover defences. The M&A speculation comes just months after Openreach, its infrastructure unit, was put in the frame as a value-increasing break-up of Brazilian telco Oi emerges.

BT has hired Goldman Sachs to...

Read more

Digital infrastructure becoming its own asset class as investment surge looms

22 May, 2020

COVID-19 is accelerating digital infrastructure’s transition into a new asset class, and helping fan the flames of M&A rumours such as those surrounding UK-based BT’s Openreach fibre unit.

While Openreach’s CEO dismissed the reported talks, cableco Virgin Media  and MNO O2’s £31bn (US$38.4bn) JV plans have also been adding fuel to the deal-making speculation. “Digital infrastructure is no longer the...

Read more

Far-reaching COVID-19 impact pushing out much-needed satellite insurance premium

1 April, 2020

Satellite insurers expect to lose as much as a fifth of their projected premiums this year as the global COVID-19 pandemic squeezes an already strained market. 

“About 20% of the premium that the market would’ve written this year will be pushed into next year, because of satellite launch delays and how everything has slowed down,” a well-informed insurance source said.

“That includes satellite manufacturing and, of course, the situation with...

Read more