Eutelsat has acquired Noorsat, one of the satellite service providers in the Middle East, from Bahrain’s Orbit Holding GrouMoving. The deal is valued at $75 million and will consolidate Eutelsat’s presence in the Middle East. The acquisition will add upwards of $15 million to Eutelsat’s consolidated revenues on an annualised basis after the elimination of the capacity leased by Eutelsat from Noorsat.
Noorsat was established in 2004, and was the distributor of Eutelsat capacity in the Middle East, serving customers and providing services for over 300 TV channels almost exclusively from Eutelsat’s MENA neighbourhoods at 7/8° West and 25.5° East.
The acquisition is in line with Eutelsat’s broader strategy of streamlining distribution within selected core video neighbourhoods where it believes it can create value. It will allow Eutelsat to strengthen the long-term commercial development of its market-leading 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.
