Inmarsat looks to regain the high ground

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At Cape Canaveral on Friday, Inmarsat launched the world's largest commercial communications satellite into a trajectory that will place it at 64 degrees east over the Indian Ocean. But the communications company also started the countdown to what is widely expected to be a flotation on the stock market.

The new satellite, the I4-F1, will be one of three that will provide broadband to government, military, maritime and commercial users around the world, even if they have no access to the fixed-line internet or to a mobile network. The I4-F1 will cover most of Europe and Africa, all of India and the Middle East and most of Russia. A second satellite, the F2, will be put into an orbit over South America, with a third planned for the Pacific, if there is sufficient demand.

It is nearly five years since Inmarsat commissioned the European aerospace company EADS Astrium to build three I-4s. In that time the London-based operation has changed beyond recognition. Inmarsat started life in 1979 as an inter-governmental organisation, providing maritime safety communications. In the late 1980s it was turned into a company, and in December 2003 it was privatised, with the majority of shares now held by venture capitalists Apax Partners and Permira.

Andy Sukawaty, who joined Inmarsat as non-executive chairman at privatisation and took over as chief executive last March, says talk of a flotation is inevitable. "It was said to me when Inmarsat was privatised that private equity firms start to look for liquidity the day you sign the papers," he says. "They look at it long before that. They look at it as part of a plan to provide a return on investment."

Sukawaty will not be drawn on a date for the float, but last week this newspaper revealed that the company could list in London this spring with a market value of up to £1.5bn.

Source: Independent
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