Blackstone to Acquire New Skies Satellites

The Blackstone Group, a private investment and advisory firm, agreed to acquire New Skies Satellites N.V. for $956 million in cash, equivalent to approximately $7.96 per fully diluted share.



New Skies, which is based in The Netherlands, has five satellites in orbit, ground facilities around the world and one additional spacecraft under construction. The company also has secured certain rights to make use of additional orbital positions for future growth.



New Skies said the deal a 14% premium over the price of its stock on April 28th, the day before it announced that it was considering its alternatives, and a 27% premium to the average share price during the twelve months leading up to that date.



The Blackstone Group, a private investment and advisory firm with offices in New York, Atlanta, Boston, London and Hamburg, was founded in 1985. The firm has raised a total of approximately $32 billion for alternative asset investing since its formation. Over $14 billion of that has been for private equity investing, including Blackstone Capital Partners IV, the largest institutional private equity fund ever raised at $6.45 billion, and Blackstone Communications Partners I, the largest dedicated communications and media fund at over $2.0 billion. http://www.newskies.comhttp://www.blackstone.com