The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has cleared the take-over of Intelsat by SES in its $3.1 billion move.
However, while the UK’s anti-trust clearance is a major step forward for the deal, there are two other entities which also need to give their permissions in the form of the EU and U.S.. The CMA has not yet published the full text of its approval other than it had cleared the purchase. Given that it did not rule that a more thorough investigation was needed augers well for the other needed approvals.
The EU requested extra information two weeks ago, asking the two company’s customers whether Elon Musk’s Starlink broadband system or Eutelsat’s OneWeb were credible rivals to the conjoined company. The EU is expected to give its verdict on or before June 10th.
The EU competition enforcer can clear the deal with or without remedies after the end of its preliminary review or it can open a full-scale four-month long investigation if it has serious concerns.
It is already known that the two businesses, already legally domiciled in Luxembourg, would stay in Luxembourg once the deal is approved although they would also maintain a major presence in Washington DC.
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission issued its formal requests to SES and Intelsat on January 13th. SES issued its 82-page response on April 30th (more detail at the FCC’s SB Docket 24-267). The US Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) also published the SES and Intelsat responses on April 30th.
