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Private equity firms circle UK global satellite communications company

A number of private equity firms including George Soros's Private Equity Partners, Apollo Management, Apax Partners and Permira are circling the global satellite communications company Inmarsat. The deal is expected to be valued at around £900m.

Inmarsat's owners, including British Telecom, Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom, have been keen to dispose of the company since late last year in order to ease their suffocating debt burdens, according to the Financial Mail.

Weak markets and poor investor interest have already caused Inmarsat to scrap plans to go for an initial public offering on three occasions. But things are looking up for the debt-laden company as a recent cautious revival in equity markets has increased the company's value in the eyes of private equity investors.

Just three months ago, private equity companies discussed buying Immarsat for £625m, almost 50 per cent lower than the price now under negotiation.

‘Our position is quite clear. The plan was for a flotation, but markets were not strong enough,' Inmarsat chief executive Michael Storey told the Financial Mail. ‘Equities are now showing signs of life so that remains a possibility but we have always kept our options open.'

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