SES subsidiary SES Sirius has been rebranded as SES Astra. This follows Luxembourg-based SES’ acquisition of a final 10% stake in the group from the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) last March, and reflects the successful integration of the company’s…
SES subsidiary SES Sirius has been rebranded as SES Astra. This follows Luxembourg-based SES’ acquisition of a final 10% stake in the group from the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) last March, and reflects the successful integration of the company’s fleet, activities and teams into SES Astra’s operations, the company said.
As part of the name change, the Sirius 4 satellite, located at 5E, will be renamed Astra 4A. The slot serves the Nordics, Baltics, Eastern Europe and southern Africa.
SES Astra president and CEO Ferdinand Kayser described the full acquisition of SES Sirius as evidence that the company had diversified beyond its traditional DTH core business and into Central and Eastern Europe. “We are confident that the unified brand name will help us to further leverage on our success, to strengthen the Astra brand and to significantly drive our business in these important growth markets”, he stated.
SES first bought a 50% stake in Sirius, formerly known as Nordic Satellite, in 2000. It acquired the shares of Tele Denmark and Teracom to become joint 50-50 shareholder with SSC.
Astra then further extended its ownership of the company to 75% in 2003, and 90% in January 2008. It renamed Nordic AB to SES Sirius in 2005. Sirius currently operates two satellites serving the Nordic regions and Eastern Europe at 4.8E and 5E respectively.
At the time, Kayser said that fully integrating the SES Sirius team and activities into the parent company was key to SES Astra’s geographic expansion strategy.