The Export-Import Bank of the United States (“Ex-Im Bank”) has announced that its recent transactions with Asia Broadcast Satellite (“ABS”), which involved two direct loans totaling $470 million for the export of three satellites, have been selected as Ex-Im Bank’s “Deal of the Year.” ABS and its major exporters, Space Systems/Loral Inc. (“SS/L”), Boeing Satellite Systems International (“Boeing”), and Space Exploration Technologies (“SpaceX”), will be recognized at Ex-Im Bank’s 2014 Annual Conference to be held 24-25 April 2014 in Washington, D.C. In addition, Trade Finance magazine has also selected the ABS financing as one of its “Deals of the Year 2013.”
The international law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP advised ABS on its $470 million in direct loans from Ex-Im Bank. The first loan provided $179.6 million to finance the purchase of the ABS-2 satellite and insurance from Aon plc. The ABS-2 satellite, manufactured by SS/L, carries 51 Ku-, 32 C- and 6 Ka-band transponders and will provide DTH and other telecommunications services to customers in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Russia, Central Asia and India from the 75°E orbital position. ABS-2 was successfully launched by Arianespace S.A. in February 2014. The other loan will provide $291 million for the purchase of two additional 702SP C- and Ku-band geostationary satellites from Boeing, insurance from Aon plc, technical support, and the launch of both of the satellites aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9. The two satellites will be launched in 2015.
The financing represented a number of firsts: the first time Ex-Im Bank had supported launch services from SpaceX, the world’s first privately-held launch services provider; and the first time Ex-Im Bank had supported Boeing’s new 702SP all electric propulsion satellite platform, an industry game-changer.
ABS is a global satellite operator, which offers a complete range of end-to-end solutions including Direct to Home, Cable TV distribution, cellular backhaul, VSAT and Internet backbone connectivity services with diverse IP transit through its European, Middle East and Asian internet gateways. The new satellites will expand ABS’s current fleet, which currently offers coverage to 80% of the world and targets emerging markets in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Russia.
The Milbank team was led by Global Transportation & Space partners Peter Nesgos (New York), Dara Panahy (Washington, DC. and Jim Pascale (New York). Key Milbank team members included Global Transportation & Space associates Alexis Sáinz (Washington, DC) and Lafayette Greenfield (Washington, DC).
