eutelsat 20May2017Eutelsat has reached an agreement with Abertis Group on the sale of its 33.69% stake in Spanish satellite operator Hispasat to Abertis.


The agreed price for Eutelsat’s stake is €302 million, representing an EBITDA multiple of 7.1x based on Hispasat’s 2016 results. The closing of the transaction is subject to Spanish government approval and other customary conditions precedent, and is expected in the second half of calendar year 2017.

Eutelsat said that the divestment of the stake was consistent with its strategy of rationalising its portfolio of assets in order to maximise cash generation.

It first announced its intention to divest its stake in Hispasat in July 2016 when it exercised the option granted in 2008 by Abertis, Hispasat’s majority shareholder. It began negotiations with Spain’s Abertis in March 2017.

The deal means that Abertis will own around 90% of Hispasat which during its last business year reported €228.9 million of revenues, a 4.2% increase compared with the previous year. By area, 35.4% of the revenue came from Europe and Northern Africa, while 64.6% came from the increasingly key North and South American markets. In January 2017, it launched the Hispasat 36W-1 satellite, while the Amazonas 5 and Hispasat 30W-6 craft are set for launch later this year.