Judge Keith Phillips has a busy afternoon at his bankruptcy court today (October 20th) listening and adjudicating on a long list of motions concerning Intelsat. Late yesterday (October 19th), Intelsat’s lawyers filed (at 21.28pm) an additional supplement on its Chapter 11 exit from bankruptcy plan and at a mere 333 pages which probably kept the opposing lawyers up all night!

The court will sit at 1pm (Washington DC-time) and hear a variety of arguments on motions ranging from the offered payment of some $115 million to Intelsat note-holders (whose ‘make-whole’ obligations amount to nearer $1.8 billion in first-lien notes) and under the operator’s ‘make whole’ reorganisation plan.

Others deal with an application to quash (or issue of a Protective Order) on the requested appearance of James Brolin (former VP at Appaloosa Partners, shareholders in Intelsat) and to provide a deposition from him. Lawyers for Brolin argue that the court has some 400,000 pages of documents now on file, and Brolin’s testimony is not needed. This particular element is likely to be delayed until October 27th, subject to the court granting a postponement.

The court will also hear elements concerning certain discovery obligations (of documents and statements) and disputes therein including Intelsat’s motion to expedite its bankruptcy exit hearing as well as objecting to key requests from SES.

There’s also a long list of potential financial claims on Intelsat (either directly on Intelsat SA or one of its sister companies) from the likes of Hispasat, the Australian Broadcasting Corp., the US Dept. of Treasury, KVH Industries, Tyson’s Corner (Intelsat’s landlords) plus an extensive list (150 claims) of what Intelsat’s lawyers argue are “Incorrect Claims” and other Claims to be Modified from the likes of Azercosmos and Hispasat.

One topic adjourned to a later date is the argument from Spacecom for payment of an alleged annual sum owed by Intelsat for spectrum coordination.

Also possibly up for discussion is a request for a better hourly rate from executives at Portage Point who are looking after the post-bankruptcy restructuring at Intelsat. They want up to $920 per hour for their work (for the most senior partner).

Other posts by Chris Forrester:

1. Virgin Galactic in stock split
2. Thuraya-3 suffers major problem
3. AST SpaceMobile hit by Class Action
4. Optimism under threat at SES
5. Rivada visits Terran Orbital’s manufacturing HQ
6. Avanti wins spectrum debt obligation case
7. SpaceX breaks records for re-use launchers
8. IRIS2 already in trouble?
9. Intelsat contemplates next steps

Categories: Blogs, Business, DTH/Satellite, Inside Satellite, Policy, Regulation

Tags: Intelsat, James Brolin