Eutelsat sells E-25B for €135m
August 10, 2018
By Chris Forrester
Eutelsat is selling its portion of a joint-venture satellite operating over the Middle East. Eutelsat 28B, which was co-owned by Qatar’s Es’hailSat, will now be wholly-owned by the Qataris who will gain the revenue from an additional 15 transponders operated by Eutelsat.
Paris-based Eutelsat says that the satellite earned revenues of about €16 million in the year to June 30th from its position at 25.5 degrees East.
E-25B/Es-hail-1 is, in effect, co-located with Arabsat’s important ‘hot spot’ at 26 degrees east.
Eutelsat commented: “The divestment of this non-core asset is in line with Eutelsat’s strategy of optimising its portfolio of businesses in the context of its policy of maximizing cash generation. It has no impact on Eutelsat’s revenue objectives which are at constant perimeter, and will be absorbed within the Group’s EBITDA margin target. The discretionary free cash flow objective excludes the impact of the disposal.”
Eutelsat 25B, built for the joint-venture by Space Systems/Loral, was launched in August 2013 with a planned life of at least 15 years. It carries 32 Ku-band and 14 Ka-band transponders.
Qatar’s Es-hailSat is expected to launch its second satellite later this year.