Ship Equip Acquired by Inmarsat Plc.
Ship Equip International AS and Inmarsat plc (LSE: ISAT.L) announced an agreement for Inmarsat, to acquire Ship Equip for a total consideration of $163.7m.
Inmarsat is a provider of global mobile satellite communications services. Ship Equip, based in Ålesund, Norway, is a provider of VSAT maritime communications services to the shipping, offshore oil & gas and fishing markets.
James Parm, President and CEO of Stratos, commented: "We are delighted to welcome Ship Equip and their management team into the Inmarsat group. Ship Equip is ideally positioned to support the evolution of certain segments of the maritime market to higher speed services – especially those to be offered by Inmarsat’s revolutionary Global XpressTM programme after its planned launch in 2013. Ship Equip is the perfect partner for Inmarsat, bringing a large installed base of maritime VSAT customers, who we expect to be in the forefront of the transition to Global Xpress services, and a management team with extensive knowledge of VSAT operations and customers, to help us ensure that Global Xpress is a compelling proposition for the maritime community. This acquisition demonstrates our clear determination to prepare the way for a fast and successful take up of Ka-band services via Inmarsat Global Xpress.’’
Ship Equip is to be acquired by Inmarsat Solutions and will operate as a separate subsidiary alongside Inmarsat’s Stratos and Segovia businesses. Closing of the transaction is subject to certain regulatory approvals which are expected to be completed in a matter of weeks. Inmarsat expects to finance the transaction from current available liquidity.
UBS acted as sole financial advisor to Ship Equip.