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Microcap & Penny Stocks : Globalstar Telecommunications Limited GSAT -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Boplicity who wrote (5860)	7/20/1999 11:16:00 AM
From: Jeff Vayda	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 29987

ICO still struggles, deadline (pun?) for current subscribers coming soon (July 27) SPACEBUSINESS TODAY -- AN AEROSPACE DAILY EXTRA ICO reexamines launch schedule in midst of effort to secure financing ICO Global Communications is reviewing its launch manifest after recent failures of two of its four planned launch vehicles. The failures come at a critical point in the company's efforts to raise additional financing. The Proton launch system, which was to be used for a total of four ICO launches, suffered a failure July 5 that scattered debris across an 800 square kilometer area of Kazakhstan. ICO's first two planned launches, to take place between August and the end of this year, are planned for Protons, which have been grounded indefinitely on orders of the Kazakh government (Aerospace Daily, July 15). The company also has five launches scheduled on Delta III rockets, the first two in October and December with three more to take place in 2000. The Delta III may be subject to continued launch restrictions, however, now that Boeing has determined that an explosion shattered the combustion chamber in the rocket's upper stage RL10 engine (Aerospace Daily, June 29, 1999). The accident last month left Loral's Orion 3 stranded in a useless orbit. ICO also has two Atlas IIAS launches scheduled in October and January and a launch on Boeing's Sea Launch vehicle next year. The failures come at a particularly inopportune time as ICO continues its attempts to raise the remainder of its financing. ICO and other satellite firms were already having to rethink financing plans, since the widely publicized struggles of Iridium left investors holding tightly to their checkbooks. A $2 billion credit facility is in the works that would enable the London-based firm to finish its 10-satellite communications constellation. That deal is still undergoing due diligence, however, after having been announced in October of last year. Lead banks for the debt package are ABN AMRO, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan. A rights offering aimed at raising more money from current shareholders is also still underway, having been extended through July 27. The offering enables stockholders to purchase for $5 one ordinary share for every share they already own and to sign up to buy additional shares. The deadline for the offering was extended last month when the company failed to make its minimum goal of $500 million in subscriptions. An ICO spokesman declined to say where the rights offering stands now. But on June 24, when the offering was extended, subscriptions to the offering totaled about $420 million. Hughes has committed to add $100 million to the investment pot if the rights offering can reach $500 million. This money is in addition to $33.2 million that Hughes has pledged as part of its contract with ICO to build its satellites. The $33.2 million is to buy additional ICO shares as the project reaches certain developmental milestones. Copyright 1999 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.