UK: Gov ready to approve US$3.2B Inmarsat buyout

The UK is set to approve the private equity buyout of satellite company Inmarsat, after officials said Wednesday, October 9, the US$3.4 billion transaction does not appear to present competition or national security concerns, Bloomberg reported

Commitments made by the buyers, which included a pledge to keep the company in the UK for several years and continue with research and development in Britain, were enough to avoid a deeper investigation into the deal, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport announced Wednesday.

Separately, the Competition and Markets Authority said in a statement the purchase need not “be expected to result in a substantial lessening of competition within a market or markets in the U.K. for goods or services.

The buyout group—which includes Apax Partners, Warburg Pincus, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan—is acquiring Inmarsat via Connect Bidco Ltd, a joint-venture company owned in equal shares. Apax was part of a consortium of investors that bought Inmarsat in 2003 and took it public two years later.

Full Content: Bloomberg

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