Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Loral Space & Communications -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jeff Vayda who wrote (10642)	10/23/2003 7:47:33 AM
From: Jeff Vayda	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10852

EchoStar ends bid for Loral satellites Offer revoked after judge makes ruling favoring DirecTV Denver Rocky Mountain News 10/23/03 author: Roger Fillion (Copyright 2001) EchoStar Communications Corp. abandoned its efforts to buy the satellite assets of bankrupt Loral Space & Communications Ltd. The move came after a federal bankruptcy judge in New York quashed EchoStar's attempt to buy a satellite Loral was building for EchoStar's chief rival, Hughes Electronics Corp.'s DirecTV broadcast unit. Littleton-based EchoStar, the nation's No. 2 satellite-TV broadcaster, earlier this month had bid $1.85 billion to buy all of Loral's satellites and its satellite-manufacturing operations out of bankruptcy. Loral rejected the bid as inadequate. Loral executives have said they want the New York-based company to emerge from bankruptcy and didn't want to sell all the company's assets. EchoStar took its $1.85 billion offer off the table on Wednesday after the bankruptcy judge gave Loral the green light to complete the sale of the nearly complete satellite to DirecTV, the No. 1 satellite-TV provider. The judge also gave Loral the OK to build two more satellites for DirecTV, as well as a third satellite for another Hughes subsidiary, PanAmSat Corp. The total value of that package was put at $320 million. "We're disappointed in the judge's ruling, as we believe we had a superior bid for the satellite assets," EchoStar CEO Charles Ergen said in a statement. "We have had a long, productive relationship with Loral, and we look forward to continuing to work with them as they emerge from bankruptcy." EchoStar had offered to buy the DirecTV satellite from Loral for as much as $200 million, a move that would have dealt a blow to DirecTV. EchoStar also had promised to buy three more satellites in the future. EchoStar's offer had led DirecTV to raise its offer for the satellite to $165 million from $140 million. Bob Marsocci, a DirecTV spokesman, said the company was "pleased" with the judge's decision. "We look forward to the delivery of our satellites from Loral." Attorneys general from three states, including New York, had raised anti-competitive alarms over EchoStar's efforts to buy the satellites. The judge's decision is the latest twist in a saga pitting EchoStar against Loral, DirecTV and Intelsat Ltd., a Bermuda-based international satellite-services provider. On Monday, Intelsat won a bankruptcy auction for Loral's North American satellite fleet, beating out EchoStar with a $1.1 billion bid. At the time, EchoStar had refused to give up and said that its $1.85 billion offer for all of Loral's assets remained on the table. The bankruptcy court must approve the Intelsat deal.