News & Analysis

Four firms secure Intelsat windfall

The buyout firms selling the satellite operator for $16.5 billion have benefitted from their lenders’ decision to part-finance the BC Partners-led acquisition agreed shortly before the credit crunch.

By
Toby Lewis
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Apollo Management, Apax Partners, Madison Dearborn Partners and Permira made a more than 100 percent internal rate of return over more than three years from their sale earlier this month of US satellite operator Intelsat for $16.5 billion (€11.2 billion), according to a statement by Swiss limited partner Partners Group.

Intelsat: eye-
watering returns

The firms initially invested $515 million of equity in the company in 2004.

A BC Partners consortium closed the acquisition at the beginning of this month having persuaded Intelsat’s lenders to provide some of the financing for the bid. The problems in the credit markets, which began shortly after the bid was agreed in June, had rendered the deal problematic.

Partners Group, an investor in Apollo’s fifth fund and Apax’s sixth fund, said the realisation would lead to a positive impact on the net asset value of its listed fund Princess of €1.5 million ($2.2 million).