British satellite operator Avanti (LON: AVN) has wrapped up financing for the Hylas 4 spacecraft it expects to launch in 2017 after raising US$125m in another add-on bond. Boston-based Mast Capital Management, an Avanti shareholder, led the investment…
British satellite operator Avanti (LON: AVN) has wrapped up financing for the Hylas 4 spacecraft it expects to launch in 2017 after raising US$125m in another add-on bond.
Boston-based Mast Capital Management, an Avanti shareholder, led the investment in the 10% senior secured notes due 2019.
Avanti said the debt will be issued at a small discount to the current trading price of the notes, which totalled USS$370m on their debut in September 2013, and were first tapped in July 2014 for an extra US$157.5m to help fund its fourth satellite.
The London-based group also said today that it had sold an equity stake of about 2.47% for roughly US$11.3m to satisfy demand from bond investors. It priced 3,592,781 new ordinary shares at 200.65p each, representing a 4% discount to the closing middle market price yesterday. The shares will join London’s junior stock exchange on 21 August along with the notes.
Cenkos Securities is Avanti’s financial adviser and broker. Jefferies has been acting as a book runner for the financing.
Hylas 4 will be based on Orbital Sciences’ GEOStar-3 satellite platform, aiming to deliver up to 120 Gbps of throughput to new markets in Africa, as well as provide expansion capacity for existing customers in areas of Africa and Europe that are covered by Hylas 1 and Hylas 2. Arianespace has been lined up to launch it in early 2017.
David Williams, Avanti’s CEO, said: “Today’s funding for Hylas 4 enables us to complete our coverage of EMEA in early 2017.
“Avanti now offers more High Throughput Satellite capacity to its telco customers in Africa than any other satellite operator, enabling us to build strong partnerships for the long term.”
Mast focuses predominantly on middle market opportunities and is employee-owned with a minority stake held by Dyal Capital Partners, a subsidiary of Neuberger Berman. It manages and sub-advises about US$1.2bn around the world.
