Judge says “no” to Intelsat stockholders
March 19, 2021
By Chris Forrester
A hearing on March 17th before Judge Keith Phillips at his Intelsat bankruptcy court decided to deny certain stockholders any official voice in the upcoming Intelsat financial restructuring. The ad hoc group also wanted the court to determine which of the dozens of Intelsat businesses should receive the FCC’s C-band incentive payments.
The group of shareholders range from extremely modest small shareholders with as few as 138 shares and ranging up to significant holders of as many as 1.8 million shares. The overall total of shares represented by the action amount to 2.676 million. Additionally some of the shareholders are also bond-holders in that they hold some of Intelsat’s debt obligations.
Judge Phillips said that the application could not show a “substantial likelihood” that holders of the equity are entitled to recover a portion of their investments. Judge Phillips also declined to order a court-financed official committee to represent these shareholders and fund their legal fees.
The court formally postponed the SES motion to claim a larger portion of Intelsat’s C-band clearing compensation and the SES legal action over how the division of FCC payments was determined, will now be heard on June 14th.
However, one of the day’s key Motions was to determine which Intelsat business would be in receipt of the FCC’s C-band payments amounting to some $4 billion.
One application was agreed, which was Intelsat’s motion for an expedited hearing on its bankruptcy exit and restructuring plan.