Launch services provider Sea Launch in currently in the process of securing a US$200m working capital facility in order to support its hardware orders.
SatelliteFinance understands that the financing is expected to be completed in the near-term and…
Launch services provider Sea Launch in currently in the process of securing a US$200m working capital facility in order to support its hardware orders.
SatelliteFinance understands that the financing is expected to be completed in the near-term and that no outside financial adviser was hired for the process.
Sea Launch’s president Kjell Karlsen told SatelliteFinance that the working capital facility was necessary due to the payment structure of customer contracts given with their lead time of around 27 months from start to finish. This means that the company has to finance the production of hardware ahead of time.
Karlsen said: “That’s the normal debt that a company like ours should have, just to support the production of hardware. It gives the customers a lot of confidence that fact that the hardware is coming out and since we re-emerged from bankruptcy protection we have met all our commitments in that regard.
“I think the systems that we have set up with the oversight that we do through Energia Logistics works really well. It’s much more solid now than it was prior to our filing for Chapter 11 and that’s really through the oversight and the control Energia has.”
Since its return to flight in September 2011, Sea Launch has completed four launches (one of which was a Land Launch) and has one more lined up this for the end of the year in Eutelsat 70B. Following the launch of Intelsat 27 in early 2013, the company does not have any further launches scheduled for in 2013 and Karlsen said that company will use this time to build up its hardware supply whilst aggressively looking for new contracts. To that end, the company expects to announce a new customer shortly.
