Paris-based satellite operator Eutelsat has successfully raised €600 million in fresh debt. The notes are due for repayment in 2029 and bear an interest rate of 9.75 per cent. Eutelsat says it intends to use the gross proceeds together with cash on hand, to fund the repurchase of its €800 million 2 per cent bonds […]
Deutsche Bank’s (DB) advice to clients holding Eutelsat shares is to ‘SELL’ their stock. Its previous advice was to ‘HOLD’ their shares. DB now says its preferred satellites company within its coverage is Luxembourg-based SES which it rates ‘BUY’. DB says it is concerned over operational delays which it says are weighing on its OneWeb […]
Fitch Ratings has taken another look at Eutelsat’s prospects and downgraded the satellite operator to ‘BB-‘ and with an ‘Outlook Negative’ view because of its “OneWeb challenges”, its higher execution risks, and competition for OneWeb from other LEO constellations. Fitch expects Eutelsat to have to borrow more cash to fund the OneWeb expansion plan. Fitch’s […]
Fitch Ratings has affirmed satellite operator Viasat and its subsidiaries’ Long-Term Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) at ‘BB-‘ and removed all ratings from Rating Watch Negative (RWN) – which is good news for the company. Fitch has resolved the RWN as it expects Viasat’s debt leverage to decline and sustain within the current EBITDA leverage sensitivities […]
Eutelsat’s shares hit another all time low on November 23rd, not helped by a downgrade from Fitch. The ratings agency downgraded Eutelsat’s debt to ‘BB’ although stated that the operators outlook was “stable”. However, the news didn’t help Eutelsat’s share price which crashed to €3.77 (from €4) although it finished the day at €3.81. The […]
UK-based TV and radio transmission business Arqiva has just borrowed £250 million. Ratings agency Fitch has allocated a classification of ‘BBB’ with an ‘outlook is stable’ qualification. Fitch expects Arqiva’s debt to steadily fall to zero by 2032. The new cash will be used primarily to repay its existing European Investment Bank Loan and institutional […]
Free cash flow (FCF) for European telecoms will remain constrained in 2022, according to credit rating agency Fitch’s European Telecoms Watch – 4Q22, with risks to short-term forecasts likely to be low. FCF will remain constrained as capex investments for fibre deployments, 5G mobile networks, spectrum payments and IT overhauls peak during the course of […]
Fitch Ratings has affirmed UK transmission company Arqiva and its Arqiva Financing and Arqiva PP Financing plc’s whole business securitisation bonds at ‘BBB’. It has also affirmed Arqiva Broadcast Finance plc’s high-yield (HY) bonds at ‘B-‘. The Outlooks are Stable, says Fitch. Arqiva enjoys long-term RPI-linked contracts and a monopoly in terrestrial television and radio […]
SES’s (BBB/Stable) planned acquisition of DRS Global Enterprise Solutions (GES), provider of commercial satellite communications to the US government, will have no impact on SES’s ratings, Fitch Ratings says. SES announced March 21st that it had entered into an agreement with Leonardo DRS, a US subsidiary of Leonardo S.p.A. (BBB-/Stable), to acquire GES for $450 […]
SES has received a favourable review from Fitch Ratings for its borrowings. Fitch says that SES’s long-term debt is rated at ‘BBB’ and its subordinated borrowings are rated at ‘BB+’. Fitch highlights the options that SES will shortly have from the FCC’s next C-band incentive payments of some $3 billion. Sandeep Jalan, CFO at SES, […]