Loral Space & Communication (OTC BB: LRLSQ), today announced that its board of directors has reviewed a letter from EchoStar Communications Corporation in which it indicated an interest in purchasing all of Loral’s assets for $1.85 billion. EchoStar’s proposal, which the board rejected, was subject to numerous conditions.
Bernard L. Schwartz, chairman and CEO of Loral, said, “EchoStar’s bid undervalues Loral’s businesses, especially in light of the significant increase in value that has been achieved since the beginning of the company’s reorganization case in July. Our recent satellite awards demonstrate that Loral remains a trusted and valued business partner, providing the industry’s most advanced and reliable satellites and satellite services.
“Further, we continue to believe that the best course of action for Loral to enhance the value of its assets, is to proceed with the proposed sale of our North American satellites and emerge from the bankruptcy process with a viable, ongoing satellite services and manufacturing business.”
On July 15, 2003, Loral reached an agreement to sell Intelsat its six North American satellites (including Telstar 4) for approximately $1.1 billion. Consistent with the bidding procedures approved by the Bankruptcy Court, Loral will evaluate any and all bids that it may receive for its North American satellites on or before October 15, 2003, including one from EchoStar if it submits a bid for those assets.
Loral Space & Communications is a satellite communications company. It owns and operates a global fleet of telecommunications satellites used by television and cable networks to broadcast video entertainment programming, and by communication service providers, resellers, corporate and government customers for broadband data transmission, Internet services and other value-added communications services. Loral also is a world-class leader in the design and manufacture of satellites and satellite systems for commercial and government applications including direct-to-home television, broadband communications, wireless telephony, weather monitoring and air traffic management. For more information, visit Loral’s web site at www.loral.com.
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This document contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. In addition, Loral Space & Communications Ltd. or its representatives have made or may make forward-looking statements, orally or in writing, which may be included in, but are not limited to, various filings made by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, press releases or oral statements made with the approval of an authorized executive officer of the company. Actual results could differ materially from those projected or suggested in any forward-looking statements as a result of a wide variety of factors and conditions. These factors include those related to the filing, on July 15, 2003 by Loral and certain of its subsidiaries, of voluntary petitions for reorganization under Chapter 11 of Title 11 of the United States Code in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and parallel insolvency proceedings in the Supreme Court of Bermuda in which certain partners of KPMG were appointed as joint provisional liquidators. Additional factors and conditions are also described in the section of the company’s annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2002, entitled “Certain Factors That May Affect Future Results,” and the company’s other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The reader is specifically referred to these documents.
