Satellite broadband provider Hughes Communications has allegedly appointed Barclays Capital to advise it on a potential sale of the company, according to reports.
Hughes, which has been majority-owned by private equity firm Apollo since 2004, has…
Satellite broadband provider Hughes Communications has allegedly appointed Barclays Capital to advise it on a potential sale of the company, according to reports.
Hughes, which has been majority-owned by private equity firm Apollo since 2004, has reportedly received several offers in a first-round bidding process from both sponsors and strategics.
According to Reuters, the second round of bids is expected at the beginning of February with Barclays rumoured to be offering staple financing to potential buyers.
When news of the potential sale broke on 20 January, Hughes’ share price jumped by as much as 30%, its highest level in three years. The stock closed at US$51.49 on Nasdaq on that same day, up 10.9%.
Based on its share price on 21 January, the company had a market capitalisation of US$1.32bn. Hughes’ net debt amounted to US$713m as of 30 September 2010.
Back in November, Hughes Network Systems, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hughes, signed a US$115m loan facility with BNP Paribas and Societe Generale to help fund the launch of its next-generation Ka-band broadband satellite Jupiter, which is scheduled to be launched by Arianespace in the first half of 2012.
The giant Jupiter satellite is being built by Space Systems Loral and will have throughput capacity of 100 gigabits per second, more than 10 times that of Hughes’ current flagship broadband satellite, Spaceway 3.
Hughes and Barclays could not be reached before the press deadline, while Apollo declined to comment on the potential sale.
