Intelsat has acquired Convergence Partners’ 25.1% stake in its New Dawn African satellite joint venture.
The transaction means that Intelsat is now the sole owner of the Intelsat New Dawn satellite and will subsequently rename it Intelsat-28.
The…
Intelsat has acquired Convergence Partners’ 25.1% stake in its New Dawn African satellite joint venture.
The transaction means that Intelsat is now the sole owner of the Intelsat New Dawn satellite and will subsequently rename it Intelsat-28.
The purchase price was not revealed, although Intelsat did state that it was immaterial to the company. The satellite operator added that the transaction will have no impact on the operations of the satellite or on the customers using its services.
In connection with the acquisition, Intelsat also repaid the US$88m outstanding under the New Dawn secured credit facility that was provided by Nedbank, South Africa’s Industrial Development Corporation and the African Development Bank back in December 2008.
The facility comprised a US$125m senior term loan paying an interest of between 3 – 4% over Libor and a US$90m mezzanine term loan paying between 5.6 – 6.3% over Libor.
Of the overall US$250m cost of New Dawn, 15% was to be funded through equity and 85% through non-recourse project financing. Intelsat invested approximately US$25m into the venture, suggesting that the Convergence Partners-led investment group, which also included Altirah Capital and the not-for-profit Convergence Partners Foundation, provided around US$10m.
The Orbital Sciences-built satellite was launched by Arianespace on 22 April 2011. Following its launch, the spacecraft suffered a problem with the deployment of its west antenna, which controls communication in the C-band frequency.
While the Ku-band antenna deployed as designed and its 24 Ku transponders continue to operate normally, the C-band anomaly remained and New Dawn subsequently filed an insurance claim for a partial loss.
The venture received approximately US$118m under the claim at the end of 2011 and has since used this to pay a portion of its debt.
Having replaced Galaxy 11 at 32.8E, Intelsat New Dawn continues to offer capacity to several African network services customers as well as provide a MCPC (multiple channels per carrier) platform for video in Sub-Saharan Africa.
