Eutelsat - comment

We have written before that we’ve never been fans of the EQT deal, although for a while it seemed that Eutelsat had no other option. Now that it has state backing, it’s nice (and presumably cheap - probably evoking a MAC clause) that the company can blame the new investor for breaking it. The loss of control over its ground infrastructure would have given up part of the backbone of the constellation (and surely a lot of high-tech bases around the world for the French DGSE).

The French government blocked the sale of Eutelsat’s ground infrastructure to EQT. The deal was expected to net €500m in cash, which the company no longer needs as badly.