A deal with Intelsat depends on setting aside money to purchase Intelsat bonds from investors at a price higher than their trading prices last week, though that would still be below par value. The transaction would be valued at about USD 18 billion if Intelsat’s bonds were acquired at 100 cents on the dollar, but SoftBank aims to pay a bit more than half the debt’s face value, one of the people said. If an agreement is reached, the valuation would likely fall to USD 10-14 billion.
OneWeb last raised USD 1.2 billion from SoftBank and other investors in December. The funding was designed to help develop small, low Earth-orbiting satellites and pay for the construction of a facility in Florida to make its satellites. OneWeb aims to develop the network to bring internet access to uncovered parts of the world, extending the reach of mobile and broadband networks.
