spacetoday.net: EchoStar makes informal bid for Loral

Posted: Wed, Aug 20, 2003, 1:48 PM ET (1748 GMT)
Satellite television company EchoStar has made an informal bid for the assets of satellite operator Loral, a move that could disrupt Intelsat’s plans to purchase several Loral satellites. Loral officials said that they received an informal bid from EchoStar for both the six North American satellites Loral planned to sell to Intelsat as well as the remaining satellites in Loral’s fleet. The value of the bid was not disclosed by Loral, but other reports estimated the bid for the entire satellite fleet at $1.5 billion. Loral said that it would consider the bid, which is not a formal, binding offer, as required under bankruptcy law. Loral filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month, and at the same time announced it would sell six satellites that cover North America to Intelsat for approximately $1 billion. Intelsat shareholders approved the purchase last week, and won approval from federal antitrust regulators on Wednesday. Four of those six satellites were in orbit at the time the deal was announced last month; the fifth, Telstar 13, was launched earlier this month. Telstar 13 is jointly owned by EchoStar, which calls it EchoStar 9.