Comments on: Guaranteeing a competitive future for MSS https://tmfassociates.com/blog/2010/06/02/guaranteeing-a-competitive-future-for-mss/ Satellites, spectrum and other stuff Tue, 03 Feb 2026 21:36:32 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: On the web « parlonzen https://tmfassociates.com/blog/2010/06/02/guaranteeing-a-competitive-future-for-mss/comment-page-1/#comment-450 On the web « parlonzen Wed, 25 Aug 2010 14:37:17 +0000 http://tmfassociates.com/blog/?p=249#comment-450 [...] Guaranteeing a competitive future for MSS TMF Associates MSS blog [...] [...] Guaranteeing a competitive future for MSS TMF Associates MSS blog [...]

]]> By: Intermedia » Archive du blog » Le gouvernement français prête 1,8 milliard de dollars à une entreprise américaine en faillite et la presse reste muette !… https://tmfassociates.com/blog/2010/06/02/guaranteeing-a-competitive-future-for-mss/comment-page-1/#comment-441 Intermedia » Archive du blog » Le gouvernement français prête 1,8 milliard de dollars à une entreprise américaine en faillite et la presse reste muette !… Thu, 29 Jul 2010 21:09:36 +0000 http://tmfassociates.com/blog/?p=249#comment-441 [...] exemple, l’agence de notation financière américaine TMF, qui reprend un article du SpaceNews, soulève des questions quant au financement, à la [...]

]]> By: geoff goodfellow https://tmfassociates.com/blog/2010/06/02/guaranteeing-a-competitive-future-for-mss/comment-page-1/#comment-418 geoff goodfellow Thu, 03 Jun 2010 17:44:02 +0000 http://tmfassociates.com/blog/?p=249#comment-418 apparently everyone except spacenews seems to have missed or just not reported that the $2.1 billion contract (or would that more aptly be a Le Bailout for Iridium ala what Iridium CEO Matt Desch said about Globalstar in 2009?? http://www.satellitetoday.com/eletters/satellite2009_daily/fromtheshowfloor/30444.html ) for Thales Alenia Space of France to build Iridium’s second-generation constellation still needs final validation by France’s export-credit agency, Coface and, for now, is limited to a “promise of guarantee,??? that is expected to take several months.

in the meantime:

“… To enable work on satellites to start immediately, Iridium and Thales Alenia Space have signed a $53 million authorization to proceed, which is expected to cover three months’ work at the Cannes, France-based manufacturer.

“This precontract work could be extended for another three months, extending through November, for a second payment of $53 million. …

for the full scoop and interview details with the CEO’s, see:

http://www.spacenews.com/contracts/100602-thales-iridiumnext-contract.html

TMF comment: However, there is a big difference between the current situation for Iridium and Globalstar’s position when they announced their COFACE funding back in March 2009. Globalstar had to find additional equity/debt (some raised in the public markets) for backstop financing as a precondition to closing the COFACE loan. Iridium on the other hand has no such requirements, it merely needs to syndicate the loan. Given that 95% of the loan will be backed by the French govt, the interest rate is obviously going to be only marginally more than that on French government bonds. Its actually good news for Iridium that it has the money to move forward immediately through an ATP. In contrast, last summer Globalstar had to wait for the COFACE funding to come through before TAS could restart work, which delayed the launch of their satellites by several months.

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