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European Satellite Makers Increasingly Teaming Up
Paris - Nov 27, 2003 Europe's leading satellite makers face the pressure to close factories, reduce suppliers and slash other costs. Unable for now to agree on a long-term merger plan, they are taking the less controversial route of teaming up on a growing array of commercial and government projects, easing at the same time some of that pressure. Coming off a historic global decline in orders for new satellites, France's Alcatel SA and Astrium NV of the Netherlands, the satellite-making unit of European Aeronautic Defense & Space Co., recently landed some $500 million of work to jointly build two communications satellites for a Saudi Arabian-based consortium, plus a pair of European earth-observation spacecraft. The companies also have put in joint bids on a Vietnamese project and expect to take a similar approach on others, likely including an ambitious military-communications system planned by Germany. Since Alcatel currently has the capacity to provide twice as many payloads as the number of satellites it assembles each year as a prime contractor, "we have to feed that organization the way it is," through aggressive partnering, according to Pierre de Bayser, the Alcatel unit's executive vice president. Merger talks have stalled over sharp cultural differences between the two European companies. Both companies have major facilities in France, which makes layoffs particularly difficult. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links SpaceDaily Search SpaceDaily Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express The latest information about the Commercial Satellite Industry
Stratos Steps Closer To Xantic Acquisition
Bethesda MD (SPX) Jan 5, 2006Stratos Global recently announced it had taken a step closer toward the completion of the acquisition of Xantic, having received positive advice from the Works' Council in the Netherlands, and executed a definitive agreement to purchase Xantic from KPN and Telstra Corporation. |
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