Law firm Scott+Scott Attorneys at Law has commenced a Class Action lawsuit against Silver Lake Group, BC Partners – both significant investors in Intelsat – and two other named defendants Raymond Svider (chairman at BC Partners) and Justin Bateman (a partner at BC Partners).

The writ has been filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California and alleges violations under the Securities Exchange Act on behalf of investors who purchased or otherwise acquired shares of Intelsat from November 5th, 2019 through November 18th, 2019, both dates inclusive.

“The complaint alleges that Defendants violated provisions of the Exchange Act by selling a block of Intelsat shares while in possession of material non-public information, including that Intelsat had met with the FCC on November 5, 2019, to discuss the private sale of certain wavebands controlled by Intelsat for future “5G” use (the “C-Band”) and that the FCC opposed Intelsat’s then-existing proposal, instead favoring a public auction rather than private sale of the C-Band,” states the action.

Scott+Scott, with offices in New York and London, specialises in Class Action lawsuits.

The action echoes a story which first emerged in the New York Post, which alleged that the two important investors in Intelsat “partly escaped” the devastating collapse in Intelsat’s share price. The newspaper states that BC Partners and Silver Lake Partners, the two largest holders of Intelsat stock, “managed to sell a big chunk of Intelsat shares before the company’s hopes began to unravel”.

The newspaper said that the November 5th meeting between Intelsat’s CEO and the FCC was key, and where the CEO allegedly heard that the FCC was going to rule on an FCC-organised auction of C-band assets.  On November 8th – and again prior to the FCC routine announcement of the November 5th meeting – Intelsat submitted a revised proposal to the FCC (which was rejected by the FCC on November 18th).

There are other Class Actions being assembled.

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