Satellite duo in reported merge talks amid wave of sector consolidation
A pair of US and Luxembourg-based satellite giants are reportedly in talks to merge, as the increasingly scrutinised sector undergoes a wave of consolidation.
SES and stateside group Intelsat are in discussions, the Financial Times first reported yesterday. People familiar with the matter stressed that talks are still in their early stages.
It follows UK satellite firm Inmarsat undergoing a £5.4bn takeover by US rival Viasat, in a deal announced last year.
Most recently, French Eutelsat last week announced an around £2.8bn bid for taxpayer-backed OneWeb last week, to forge a satellite powerhouse to rival Elon Musk’s SpaceX-owned Starlink – which has raised national security concerns.
“What really makes this sector interesting is how it’s becoming much more obviously subject to strategic policies by different governments. It is becoming ‘politicised’ but much more at the international geopolitical level,” Cvete Koneska, head of advisory at security intelligence firm Dragonfly, told City PM last night.
“While perhaps in the past this may have been one of the sectors that was relatively insulated from regulations, tariffs… What we’re now seeing is that this is probably not going to be the case for much longer. We’re seeing much more government interest.”