Sea Launch… Financially Speaking…

[SatNews] Sea Launch Company has successfully completed its Chapter 11 reorganization process, effective October 27, 2010.

As part of the court-approved Plan of Reorganization, Energia Overseas Limited (EOL), a Russian corporation, will have acquired a majority ownership of the reorganized Sea Launch entity. The Plan of Reorganization was approved by Judge Brendan Shannon, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware, on July 27, 2010. The successor entity, Sea Launch S.a.r.l., will be responsible for corporate functions at its operations headquarters and will maintain some assets at Sea Launch Home Port, in the Port of Long Beach, in Southern California.

Energia Logistics Ltd., a U.S. corporation, will assume management of rocket assembly and satellite integration operations at the existing Sea Launch Home Port facilities. A Moscow-based EOL-affiliate will manage supply chain operations of all CIS-based primary and second-tier suppliers for the Sea Launch system. The reliable Zenit-3SL launch system and its experienced operations team, with a history of 30 launches to date, will continue to support future launches. Kjell Karlsen, Sea Launch president and general manager, and Brett Carman, chief financial officer, as well as some of the senior members of Sea Launch‟s executive management team, are transitioning to the new Sea Launch entity and will be joined by new professionals who will be added to the Sea Launch team as it returns to full flight operations. Leading up to the closing of the transaction with EOL, Sea Launch successfully completed a series of milestones in 2009-10, followed by U.S. Government review of the new ownership structure. The transaction cleared the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States on September 8, 2010.