Satellite phone company Iridium acquired for $591 million
Iridium made a name for itself for going bankrupt eight years ago and being bought for $25 million; it later donated satellite phones to first responders in the aftermath of Katrina; now it is being acquired for half a billion dollars
Satellite phone company Iridium Holdings is being acquired for $591 million by a private equity group, the companies said Tuesday. Iridium, which has 305,000 subscribers and provides voice and data mobile satellite services, is being bought by GHL Acquisition Corp., which is 17.5-percent owned by investment bank Greenhill & Co. “Iridium is the fastest growing full service voice and data MSS (mobile satellite service) provider and only one of a handful of players in its industry,” said Scott Bok, co-chief executive officer of Greenhill.
As part of the deal, Greenhill agreed to invest nearly $23 million in Iridium while GHL Acquisition agreed to repay Iridium’s outstanding debt of $131 million. The Bethesda, Maryland-based Iridium, which will retain its current management, will be renamed Iridium Communications when the deal goes through and will seek a listing on the NASDAQ.
Iridium offers satellite voice and data communications from areas where land lines and terrestrial-based wireless services are unavailable. It operates a network of sixty-six low-earth orbiting satellites, the largest commercial satellite constellation in the world, covering he entire Earth, including oceans, airways and the polar regions.
Iridium, launched a decade ago by U.S. group Motorola and international partners, went into bankruptcy after failing to get enough subscribers to cover its costs. A privately held venture acquired Iridium at bargain-basement price of $25 million in a deal approved by a bankruptcy court in 2000.
