The French government has quashed Eutelsat’s planned disposal of its ground antenna business to private equity firm EQT.
The intervention comes amid concerns it would put Europe at a disadvantage against Elon Musk’s Starlink.
“I decided to not allow Eutelsat, a big French satellite company, to sell its ground-based antenna that communicate with satellites,” French finance minister Roland Lescure said on the French commercial channel TF1. “These antenna are used for civil communication and military communication. Eutelsat is the only European competitor to Starlink, it’s obviously a strategic asset, so I said no.”
Eutelsat confirmed on Thursday that the transaction would not proceed, saying only “all conditions precedent have not been satisfied”.
The Paris-based operator would have netted €550 million from the deal.
Last August, EQT Infrastructure agreed to acquire a majority stake in Eutelsat’s Ground Station Infrastructure Business through a newly created portfolio company, SatPort Infrastructure. As part of the transaction, Eutelsat had agreed to reinvest to own 20% of SatPort Infrastructure.
The French government is Eutelsat’s largest shareholder with a 29.6 per cent stake.
