Iridium Taken Over by Brazilian, Australian and Arabian Investors
satnews.com
Brazil/April 9, 2001/Satnews/ -- The company which took over Iridium is shared by Brazilian, Australian and South Arabian investors with 61% stake. Iridium is a telephone services company which holds a satellite communications network and provided cell phone services worldwide. The former Iridium was controlled by Motorola Inc. and other investors including Inepar. The owners of the new Iridium Holding LLC also own an affiliated named Iridium Carrier Holdings.
The Brazilian partner is Inepar, through the Panama-based subsidiary Milport Associates which holds a 8,9% stake in Iridum Carrier. In Brazil, Inepar operates in communications and electric power sectors. The Australian hold 26,9% of the company and the Arabian other 24,3%. The new owners paid US$25mil for Iridium which launching costed almost US$6bil to Motorola and other investors.
The filing seeks the transfer of mobile-phone handset and other U.S. licenses used by a bankrupt predecessor company to the fleet's new owners, Iridium Satellite LLC.
The foreign investors own a combined total of 61 percent of Iridium Holdings LLC, the parent of the new Iridium Satellite. They own a similar percentage of an affiliated company which is seeking the handset license transfer.
The new owners argued that ownership by citizens of Brazil and Australia should not be an issue for the FCC because both countries are members of the World Trade Organization.
The remaining foreign owner, Baralonco N.V., is a Netherlands Antilles corporation ultimately owned and controlled by Prince Khalid bin Abdullah bin Abdulrahman, a Saudi citizen, the application said. A cousin of King Fahd, he controls the Saudi holding group Mawarid, which owned 8 percent of the old Iridium.
Saudi Arabia is not a member of the WTO. Baralonco would hold a 24.3 percent stake in Iridium Carrier Holdings, which is seeking the handset license. Iridium Carrier is controlled by the same six parties who control affiliated Iridium Holdings, Iridium Satellite LLC's parent.
"The shareholders in the new Iridium organization are familiar faces," said Greg Lucas, managing partner of McLean, Va., commercial space consultancy FCCFilings.com. He said they were getting a second bite at access to the system for a "steal" through direct equity stakes in the new parent company. |
