Irish media reports claims that Irish maritime GSM specialist Blue Ocean Wireless has filed for voluntary liquidation in the UK.
The Irish Times alleges that Blue Ocean, which is majority-owned by Philippine telco Smart Communications, has closed its…
Irish media reports claims that Irish maritime GSM specialist Blue Ocean Wireless has filed for voluntary liquidation in the UK.
The Irish Times alleges that Blue Ocean, which is majority-owned by Philippine telco Smart Communications, has closed its office in Ireland and has relocated to the Philippines where it has been rolled into its parent company.
At the time of going to press, SatelliteFinance was unable to contact anyone from Blue Ocean.
Founded in March 2007 by Domhnal Slattery, Blue Ocean provides GSM connectivity to the merchant maritime sector via capacity from Inmarsat’s satellite constellation.
Smart, a wholly-owned subsidiary of incumbent Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT), initially acquired a 28.3% stake in Blue Ocean back in September 2007. Two years later, Smart subsequently increased its stake to a majority 51%, paying US$6.26m.
Other investors include Japanese mobile telecoms operator NTT DOCOMO, which snapped up an 11.5% equity stake for just over US$10m in September 2008, institutional investor Claret Asset Management, which was also founded by Domhnal Slattery, Irish remote communications company Altobridge, and Bank of Scotland (Ireland).
