ICO-Teledesic Global Announces Investment
Agreements Totaling More Than $1 Billion
Leading Investors Include Eagle River, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, Bill Gates
LONDON and BELLEVUE, Washington - July 11, 2000 - ICO-Teledesic Global
Limited, a holding company that controls the satellite assets of
telecommunications pioneer Craig McCaw, today announced investment
agreements totaling more than $1 billion from a number of top international
investors, including Eagle River, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, Inc. (CD&R) and
Bill Gates.
CD&R, a leading private equity investor, announced that a fund it manages
would invest up to $350 million in the satellite communications venture.
CD&R has committed to invest $150 million in ICO-Teledesic Global and has
the option to invest up to an additional $200 million in the company at a
later date.
Gates, chairman and chief software architect of Microsoft Corporation, has
committed to invest $100 million in ICO-Teledesic Global through his private
investment vehicle, Cascade Investment LLC. Gates joined McCaw in 1994 as
one of Teledesic's two primary founding investors.
ICO-Teledesic Global also has received $500 million from Eagle River
Investments LLC, McCaw's private investment company. This $500 million was
part of the previously announced $1.2 billion McCaw-led successful financial
restructuring of London-based New ICO. ICO-Teledesic Global used those
funds to help secure a controlling interest in New ICO, formerly ICO Global
Communications, which emerged from Chapter 11 on May 17.
ICO-Teledesic Global plans to be a global provider of wireless
Internet-in-the-SkyÒ satellite communications services, including Internet
Protocol-based mobile and fixed broadband services. Building on its core
capabilities of high-quality, mobile voice services, New ICO will also offer
the satellite equivalent of third-generation (3G) wireless services,
including wireless Internet and other packet-data services. New ICO will
begin offering its services worldwide in 2003. Teledesic will deliver
affordable broadband data and value-added services over a global network
optimized for the Internet Protocol. Its target service date is late 2004.
"We look for opportunities to apply our operating skills to build strong
businesses and our investment in ICO-Teledesic Global fits that strategy.
We believe its focus on high-speed wireless data and emerging new
applications positions the company for success," said Donald J. Gogel, chief
executive of CD&R. "We are pleased to be partners with Craig McCaw, Bill
Gates and the other international investors and plan to add the operating
expertise of our partnership to this extraordinarily capable team." CD&R
operating partner George W. Tamke will serve on the ICO-Teledesic Global
board. Tamke is the former vice chairman and co-CEO of Emerson Electric Co.
McCaw said, "We're honored and humbled to have such sophisticated
international investors as part of our team. We're further honored that
Bill Gates continues to be an outstanding partner and supporter. We greatly
appreciate his participation." McCaw is chairman of ICO-Teledesic Global in
addition to his role as chairman of New ICO and founder and chairman of
Teledesic LLC.
Other leading investors in ICO-Teledesic Global have invested $65 million,
including Indian media entrepreneur Subhash Chandra, and Burtington
Resources Inc., a private investment vehicle of Swiss investors Jack and
Philippe Setton.
ICO-Teledesic Global has proposed a merger of New ICO and Teledesic with
ICO-Teledesic Global. The merger of New ICO into ICO-Teledesic Global is
subject to approval by the New ICO board and shareholders as well as
regulatory authorities. Teledesic's board of directors has already approved
the merger of Bellevue, Washington-based Teledesic into ICO-Teledesic
Global. This merger also remains subject to shareholder and regulatory
approvals. Once the mergers are completed, New ICO and Teledesic will be
wholly owned subsidiaries of ICO-Teledesic Global.
Background
About Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, Inc.
Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, Inc. is a private investment firm that manages a
pool of equity capital of more than $3.5 billion on behalf of public and
private pension funds, college endowments, private foundations, banks and
insurance companies. Since its founding in 1978, CD&R has led investments
in 33 businesses, including Lexmark International Inc., Fairchild Dornier
and Kinko's Inc., with aggregate annual sales of over $21 billion. Last
week, a CD&R and Cisco Systems Inc.-led investor group announced that they
would buy 80 percent of Italtel, a telecommunications equipment maker in
Italy, from Telecom Italia in a transaction valued at approximately $1
billion. CD&R has offices in New York, Menlo Park and London. To learn
more about CD&R, visit www.cdr-inc.com <http://www.cdr-inc.com>.
About New ICO
New ICO acquired the assets of ICO Global Communications (Holdings) Limited,
established in January 1995 to provide global mobile personal communications
services by satellite. ICO Global Communications was listed on NASDAQ in
July 1998. The stock was suspended from trading when the company filed for
Chapter 11 protection on August 27, 1999. The business was renamed New ICO
following its emergence from Chapter 11 protection on May 17. New ICO will
offer the satellite equivalent of third-generation (3G) wireless services,
including mobile voice, wireless Internet and other packet-data services.
New ICO (pronounced "EYE-co") is based in London with offices in Washington,
D.C.; Miami; Singapore; Beijing; Mumbai, India; Dubai; Moscow; Istanbul,
Turkey; and Pretoria, South Africa.
About Teledesic
Telecommunications pioneer Craig McCaw and Microsoft founder Bill Gates are
Teledesic's two primary founding investors. Strategic investors also
include Motorola, Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, The Boeing Company and
The Abu Dhabi Investment Company. Teledesic is the first licensed satellite
communications network that will enable affordable, worldwide access to
advanced telecommunications services such as computer networking, broadband
Internet access and interactive multimedia. Teledesic will deliver
broadband data and value-added services over a global network optimized for
the Internet Protocol. Teledesic (pronounced "tel-eh-DEH-sic") is based in
Bellevue, a suburb of Seattle, Washington, with offices in Brussels,
Belgium; London, United Kingdom; Madrid, Spain; Munich, Germany; Ottawa,
Canada; and Washington, D.C.
# # #
ICO and the freedom figure logo are service marks of the New ICO group of
companies. Teledesic and Internet-in-the-Sky are registered service marks
of Teledesic LLC.
Editors' note: Additional background can be found at www.teledesic.com and
www.ico.com. |
