Australia’s NewSat goes bust
April 17, 2015
By Chris Forrester
Troubled Australian satellite company NewSat, which had wanted to build Jaburu-1, an independently-owned satellite serving Australia, has been placed into administration.
NewSat, and its various subsidiaries (Jabiru Satellite, NewSat Space Resources and NSN Holdings) are now being looked after by the administrator, PPB Advisory. A USA-related business, NewSat Ltd, and registered in Delaware has also been placed in Chapter 15 bankruptcy administration.
The company has been stretched financially for some time and reportedly breached several financial obligations over the past few days. Its key funders include the US Export-Import Bank and Europe’s COFACE bank.
On April 15 the company secretary, William Abbott, quit after less than 3 weeks in the job. NewSat has faced challenges over alleged conflicts of interest, poor governance and several lawsuits against the business.