Simpson Thacher is representing PanAmSat Holding Corporation in its sale to Intelsat, Ltd. to create a premier satellite company that will be a leader in the digital delivery of video content, the transmission of corporate data and the provisioning of government communications solutions. Announced on August 29, 2005, the merger transaction provides for the payment by Intelsat of $25 per share, or approximately $3.2 billion in cash, plus the pro rata payment of undeclared dividends at closing. Intelsat is also refinancing and assuming approximately $3.2 billion of PanAmSat debt.
PanAmSat was acquired from The DIRECTV Group, Inc. in August 2004 by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., The Carlyle Group LLC and Providence Equity Partners Inc., and successfully completed its initial public offering at $18.00 per share in March 2005. Simpson Thacher represented KKR in the acquisition and PanAmSat in the IPO.
Intelsat is a private company with publicly listed debt, and is controlled by Apax Partners, Apollo Management, Madison Dearborn Partners and Permira.
The Simpson Thacher team includes Gary Horowitz, Christopher Lee, Daniel Holzer and David Evans (M&A); Joe Kaufman and Jason Gonzalez (Securities); James Cross and Jennifer Hobbs (Credit); Aimee Goldstein, Jennifer Rie, Tim Cornell and Olivier Antoine (Antitrust); Alvin Brown and Aimee Adler (Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits); and Steven Todrys and Thomas Gray (Tax). Valuable assistance was provided by paralegals David Friedlander, Russell Goldich, Ilunga Kalala, Ilya Kostyukovsky and Elise de la Selle.