French satellite operator Eutelsat Communications SA and UK government part-owned OneWeb have completed an all-share merger, to create Eutelsat Group, a new entity raring to compete in the commercial space race with Elon Musk’s Starlink and Jeff Bezos’s Project Kuiper.
The deal, which valued OneWeb at US$3.4 billion when it was announced in July 2022, was completed after over 87% of Eutelsat shareholders voted to approve the merger at a general meeting on 28 September. Eutelsat will retain its headquarters in Paris and OneWeb will continue its operations from London but as a subsidiary of the group, known as Eutelsat OneWeb. As planned, Eutelsat has applied to list on the London Stock Exchange, in addition to remaining listed on the Euronext Paris Stock Exchange. Eutelsat’s CEO Eva Berneke will stay at the helm of the company, as CEO of the new combined entity.
The merger brings together Eutelsat’s fleet of active geostationary orbit (GEO) satellites with OneWeb’s constellation of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites which numbers 633 in orbit, according to Seradata. Eutelsat said the LEO constellation should be operational by the end of the year. The company is already making the most of its new enlarged fleet, touting itself as the only GEO-LEO operator in satellite communications. Chairman of the board of directors, Dominique D’Hinnin, said the new group: “will be moving fast to accelerate the growth of the combined business”.
Both Eutelsat and OneWeb will keep their headquarters in Paris and London respectively, while Eutelsat plans to list the new merged group on the London Stock Exchange. Courtesy: Eutelsat.
