Telesat to be acquired by Canadian Pension Fund PSP Investments and Loral
OTTAWA, ON, December 18, 2006 - Telesat Canada, Canada's leading satellite operator, announced today that its parent company, BCE Inc., has agreed to sell the company for $3.42 billion to a new acquisition company formed by Canada's Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments) and Loral Space & Communications Inc. (Loral). The new company will be known as Telesat and headquartered in Ottawa.
As part of the transaction, Loral will contribute to the new company the fixed satellite services and network services assets of its Loral Skynet subsidiary. This gives the enlarged Telesat a global footprint and will make it the fourth-largest satellite operator in the world based on the number of satellites in orbit.
PSP Investments is a Canadian crown corporation established by Parliament by the Public Sector Pension Investment Board Act and has approximately C$30 billion in assets under management. Loral owns and operates fixed satellite services and is a world-class leader in the design and manufacture of satellites and satellite systems. PSP Investments and other Canadian investors will hold majority voting control of the new company and seventy percent of Telesat's board members will be resident Canadians; Loral and PSP Investments will hold a 64 percent and 36 percent economic interest, respectively, in the new company. The transaction remains subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals, and is expected to close in mid-2007.
Dan Goldberg, president and chief executive officer of Telesat, will continue in that role in the new company.
"Combining the highly complementary satellite assets and comprehensive network services resources of Telesat and Loral Skynet will create a leading global satellite services operator capable of offering broadcasters, carriers, corporate users and government entities state-of-the-art, secure and reliable satellite facilities and services virtually anywhere in the world," Mr. Goldberg said.
"In addition to the combined fleet of eleven in-orbit satellites and four new satellites to be launched over the next three years, customers will benefit from the culture of professional excellence shared by Telesat and Loral Skynet," he said. "It is a culture marked by deep engineering and operational expertise, a strong tradition of product development innovation, and unparalleled customer service and support. I'm looking forward to working with the Telesat and Loral Skynet teams to bring these two great businesses together and grow the new and enlarged Telesat in the years ahead."
In conjunction with the change of ownership, Telesat received approval from its board of directors to order a Nimiq 5 satellite and to provide Bell ExpressVu with access to expanded satellite capacity in the future. Telesat anticipates that construction of the Nimiq 5 satellite will commence early next year. Nimiq 5 will be a high-power, thirty-two transponder, direct broadcast satellite located at Telesat's 72.5 degree West Longitude orbital location. It will be used by Bell ExpressVu to expand its direct-to-home satellite service offerings.
I don't ssen this a a real BIG deal...I haven't heard of any changes in Bev services or encyption (nagravision)..yes a new satelite in a few years..basically I just see the Canadian government getting into this for monetary purposes ONLY by owning the satellites and securing pensions for government employees..no real changes to Bev and the subscribers....