spacetoday.net: New Skies considering buyout offer

Posted: Tue, May 25, 2004, 2:07 PM ET (1807 GMT)
Satellite communications company New Skies Satellite is considering an offer from a private equity firm to purchase the company, officials confirmed Tuesday. New Skies, based in the Netherlands, released a statement Tuesday saying that the company was in "advanced negotiations with a leading private equity firm" regarding the acquisition of the company. The statement also noted that the company is also in concurrent negotiations with other prospective buyers. None of the companies negotiating with New Skies was named, but a Reuters article late Monday said the leading suitor was the Blackstone Group, which had made an offer of about $800 million. New Skies, publicly traded in the US and Europe, has a current market cap of around $850-900 million. The potential sale is the latest sign of consolidation in the satellite communications sector, as private equity companies seek to acquire and merge existing operators. Last month KKR acquired PanAmSat for over $4 billion, and last Friday Intelsat announced that it was withdrawing plans for an IPO as it looked into potential acquisition agreements.