British satellite communications company Inmarsat has agreed a $3.4 billion takeover deal.
In what is reported to be the second-largest private deal for a publicly listed company in the UK, a consortium including London-based Apax, New York-based Warburg Pincus and two Canadian pension funds – the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board – has agreed to pay $7.21 (£5.46) a share in cash for the FTSE 250 company.
Shares in Inmarsat rose 8.8 per cent to £5.50 (as of 3pm) on Monday following news of the deal, above the share price.
The company, which has 13 satellites in orbit servicing email, internet and video conferencing – and increasingly in-flight Wi-Fi – employs 800 people in East London and 2,000 people around the world.
The consortium said it would keep Inmarsat’s headquarters in the UK and maintain its spending on research and development.
Six months ago Inmarsat turned down a $3.25bn cash-plus-stock bid from EchoStar, saying the offer undervalued the company.
Inmarsat floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2005.