SES to Acquire Rival Intelsat in a $3 Billion Deal

SES reached an agreement to acquire Intelsat for $3.1 billion. The companies claim that the deal will create a multi-orbit operator able to better compete with rivals in the fast-moving space industry.

SES dubbed the deal a compelling transaction focused on the future, explaining the tie-up will create a company with greater coverage, improved resilience, an expanded suite of solutions, and enhanced resources to invest in innovation. A deal comes just over a year after it emerged they had held talks about a big-money merger. SES however released a statement shortly after stating discussions had been abandoned with no agreement reached.

The consolidation will no doubt help to compete with the likes of Elon Musk’s Starlink, Amazon’s Project Kuiper, traditional space operators including Viasat, which merged with Inmarsat last year, as well as emerging market entrants Lynk Global and AST SpaceMobile. The newly merged entity expects to deliver €2.4 billion of synergies within the first three years of closing, representing 85% of equity consideration. It will also benefit from a gross backlog of €9 billion and revenue of €3.8 billion while tipping increased business and high demand in a growing Networks segment.

In total, the combined business will operate a fleet of more than 100 Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) and 26 Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellites. By end-2026, it aims to launch eight new GEO satellites and seven MEO offerings. It further touted increased potential in serving government, mobility, fixed data, and media segments. The combined SES entity will continue to be based and domiciled in Luxembourg while maintaining a significant presence in the US.