spacetoday.net: EchoStar to acquire Hughes

Posted: Tue, Feb 15, 2011, 6:37 AM ET (1137 GMT)
EchoStar announced Monday it had reached a deal to acquire satellite operator Hughes Communications for a total price of about $2 billion. Under the deal would buy Hughes at a price of $60.70 per share, valuing the company at a little over $1.3 billion, with refinancing of Hughes debt bringing to total deal value to about $2 billion. Hughes is best known as a provider of satellite broadband, operating the Spaceway 3 satellite and planning a larger satellite, Jupiter, scheduled for launch next year. Hughes is the second satellite operator EchoStar has purchased in under a month, after acquiring DBSD North America (formerly ICO North America) earlier this month. Hughes's share price had soared in the last month after speculation that the company was for sale.