Eutelsat swoops to acquire NOORSAT in $75MN deal
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Joseph O'Halloran
| 13 October 2017

Consolidating its presence in Middle East, leading satellite operator Eutelsat has acquired one of the leading Middle East service providers in the form of NOORSAT.

Established in 2004, and previously owned by Bahrain’s Orbit Holding Group, NOORSAT is the premier distributor of Eutelsat capacity in the Middle East, serving what are said to be blue-chip customers and providing services for over 300 TV channels almost exclusively from Eutelsat’s Middle East and North Africa neighbourhoods at 7/8° West and 25.5° East.

Under the terms of the takeover, Eutelsat has acquired all of NOORSAT’s for a fee of US$75 million, debt free and cash free and calculates that the acquisition will add more than US$15 million to its consolidated revenues on an annualised basis, after taking away existing capacity leasing arrangements. Eutelsat says that the buyout fits with its broader strategy of streamlining distribution within selected core video neighbourhoods where it can create value. It adds that it can now strengthen the long term commercial development of its video positions in the Arabic world and increase its direct access to end-customers, facilitating stimulation of HDTV take-up and the upselling of incremental video services.

“NOORSAT’s capabilities and market knowledge will further consolidate our longstanding position in the dynamic Middle East video market,” remarked **Eutelsat chief commercial and development officer Michel Azibert. “By integrating NOORSAT’s service platform and teams we are underlining our commitment to serving customers in one of the key markets within in our global footprint.”