The board of directors of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) has unanimously approved $80.7 million of financing for Spain’s Hispasat.
The transaction will fund launch services and the launch and initial in-orbit insurance of Amazonas Nexus on a SpaceX rocket in 2022.
It is also EXIM’s first satellite-related financing since 2015 and completes the financing of the space segment of this new mission of Hispasat Group. Previously, in May 2020, the operator signed €129 million financing agreements with BPI France and a pool of four financial entities to support the manufacture of the satellite.
Commenting on the development, Miguel Angel Panduro, CEO of Hispasat, said: “Hispasat’s solid financial situation, with one of the lowest levels of indebtedness in the entire sector, has allowed us to successfully complete this financing operation, thanks to which we will be able to give the best response to the new needs of our clients”.
The Amazonas Nexus is a High Throughput Satellite (HTS) designed with architecture that combines the Ku and Ka bands to optimise communications and multiply the capacity available for commercial use. It will also feature a latest generation Digital Transparent Processor (DTP), a technological advance that will be able to digitally process the satellite’s received signals and increase its flexibility in orbit.
The new satellite, which is being built by Thales Alenia Space, will replace Amazonas 2 and cover the entire American continent, the North and South Atlantic corridors (both areas with major aerial and maritime traffic) and Greenland from the 61 degrees West orbital position.
