South Korea's Hanwha to offload Eutelsat stake, filing shows
The logo of the European satellite operator Eutelsat is seen at the company's headquarters in Issy-les-Moulineaux near Paris, France, October 11, 2021. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
(Reuters) -South Korea's Hanwha Systems is offering to sell its entire 5.4% stake in Eutelsat for about 78 million euros ($85 million), a bookrunner filing showed on Wednesday, as the satellite operator moves ahead with its new financing plan.
Eutelsat has garnered unprecedented attention this year from governments looking for home-grown alternatives to SpaceX's Starlink for satellite internet connectivity.
The Franco-British company is seeking billions in new funding to finance the second generation of its low Earth orbit (LEO) OneWeb satellites and to fulfil commitments to the European Union's IRIS² project.
Finance chief Christophe Caudrelier said in May that Eutelsat was looking for capital investors.
Hanwha's shares are being offered at 3.00 euros ($3.42) apiece, representing a 13.9% discount to Eutelsat's closing price of 3.48 euros on Wednesday, a term sheet from bookrunner Citi showed.
It also marks a steep 74% loss on Hanwha's initial $300 million investment made in OneWeb in 2021, as the stake is now valued at just $85 million. The trade is set to be concluded on Thursday.
A representative for Hanwha resigned from Eutelsat's board in April, signalling the Korean company's diminishing involvement with the satellite operator.
Eutelsat is reshuffling its upper echelons. In a surprise move last month, it appointed Jean-François Fallacher as its new CEO and it is also looking for a new chairperson after the current one announced his departure along with four other board members in February.
Hanwha became a shareholder in OneWeb before it merged with Eutelsat in 2023, joining India's Bharti and Japan's SoftBank as OneWeb's anchor investors at the time.
It is also one of OneWeb's distributors in South Korea as part of an agreement signed in 2023 with the aim of securing LEO communications for the Korean government and providing internet access to underserved areas.
Last week, South Korea's Science Ministry granted licenses to Starlink and Eutelsat OneWeb to operate in the country, with services expected to be launched soon.
($1 = 0.8764 euros)
(Reporting by Gianluca Lo Nostro in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New Straits Times
5 hours ago
- New Straits Times
Malaysia exploring new palm oil markets amidst geopolitical conflicts
KOTA BARU: The government is exploring new markets for Malaysia's palm oil in an effort to reduce the nation's reliance on major exporting markets affected by geopolitical conflicts. Plantation and Commodities Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani said the ongoing Israel-Iran crisis and the Russia-Ukraine conflict have disrupted export shipments to certain zones. "Malaysia currently exports goods worth RM186 billion annually to global markets, including palm oil, but part of these markets are now considered high-risk due to armed conflicts. "As such, we are exploring new markets, namely, countries that have yet to purchase Malaysian palm oil or cooking oil. "This is crucial to ensure that our export levels remain stable," he said, adding that the country is currently trading with nearly 80 nations, with plans to expand its reach even further. Speaking to reporters after attending the 'Dialogue with KPK' programme at the Mara Poly-Tech College, Kota Baru here today, the minister also urged plantation operators and smallholders to work closely with the government to ensure the resilience of the national commodities sector on the global stage. He said planters and operators must work with the government to address challenges at the international level. "The European market is increasingly emphasising environmental sustainability and biodiversity-friendly practices in palm oil procurement. "To enter their markets, we must prove that our plantations meet their standards, comply with sustainability principles and preserve biodiversity," he said. Johari said that providing good service and meeting buyer requirements should be a priority to help turn new buyers into long-term customers. "We are asking them to buy more from us, but the service we provide is just as important," he said. — Bernama
The Star
6 hours ago
- The Star
Oil prices settle lower at the weekend as US sanctions ease fears of escalation in Iran
JAKARTA/SINGAPORE (Reuters): Oil prices settled down on Friday night as the US imposed new Iran-related sanctions, marking a diplomatic approach that fed hopes of a negotiated agreement, a day after President Donald Trump said he might take two weeks to decide US nvolvement in the Israel-Iran conflict. Brent crude futures settled down $1.84, or 2.33%, to US$77.01 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for July - which did not settle on Thursday as it was a U.S. holiday and expires on Friday - was down 21 cents, or 0.28%, at US$74.93. The more liquid August contract settled at $US73.84. Brent rose 3.6% on the week, while front-month US crude futures increased 2.7%. The Trump administration issued fresh Iran-related sanctions, including on two entities based in Hong Kong, and counter-terrorism-related sanctions, according to a notice posted to the U.S. Treasury Department website. The sanctions target at least 20 entities, five individuals and three vessels, according to Treasury's Office of Foreign Asset Control. "Those sanctions are cutting both ways. They may be part of a broader negotiation approach towards Iran. The fact they are undertaking this is a signal they are trying to resolve this outside of conflict," said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital in New York. Oil prices jumped almost 3% on Thursday after Israel bombed nuclear targets in Iran, while Iran - OPEC's third-largest producer - fired missiles and drones at Israel. Neither side showed any sign of backing down in the week-old war. Brent prices retreated after the White House said Trump would decide whether the United States would get involved in the Israel-Iran conflict in the next two weeks. "Although a major escalation is yet to occur, risks to supply from the region remain high, still hinging upon the potential for US involvement,' said Russell Shor, senior market analyst at Israel's UN ambassador said Israel seeks genuine efforts on Iran's nuclear capabilities from Friday's meeting between European and Iranian ministers, not just another round of talks. "However, while Israel and Iran carry on pounding away at each other, there can always be an unintended action that escalates the conflict and touches upon oil infrastructure," PVM analyst John Evans said. Iran in the past has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route for Middle East oil exports. Oil exports so far have not been disrupted and there is no shortage of supply, said Giovanni Staunovo, an analyst at UBS. "The direction of oil prices from here will depend on whether there are supply disruptions," he said. An escalation of the conflict in such a way that Israel attacks export infrastructure or Iran disrupts shipping through the strait could lead to oil at $100 a barrel being a reality, said Panmure Liberum analyst Ashley Kelty. Elsewhere, the EU has abandoned its proposal to lower the price cap on Russian oil to $45, Bloomberg reported. U.S. energy firms this week cut the number of oil and natural gas rigs operating for an eighth week in a row for the first time since September 2023, energy services firm Baker Hughes said in its closely followed report. The oil and gas rig count, an early indicator of future output, fell by one to 554 in the week to June 20, the lowest since November 2021. (Reporting by Georgina McCartney in Houston, Seher Dareen in London, Sudarshan Varadhan and Florence Tan; editing by David Evans, Jason Neely, David Gregorio, Leslie Adler, Rod Nickel) - Reuters
The Sun
7 hours ago
- The Sun
Europeans ditch US tech over trust, turn to local options
BERLIN: At a market stall in Berlin run by charity Topio, volunteers help people who want to purge their phones of the influence of U.S. tech firms. Since Donald Trump's inauguration, the queue for their services has grown. Interest in European-based digital services has jumped in recent months, data from digital market intelligence company Similarweb shows. More people are looking for e-mail, messaging and even search providers outside the United States. The first months of Trump's second presidency have shaken some Europeans' confidence in their long-time ally, after he signalled his country would step back from its role in Europe's security and then launched a trade war. 'It's about the concentration of power in U.S. firms,' said Topio's founder Michael Wirths, as his colleague installed on a customer's phone a version of the Android operating system without hooks into the Google ecosystem. Wirths said the type of people coming to the stall had changed: 'Before, it was people who knew a lot about data privacy. Now it's people who are politically aware and feel exposed.' Tesla chief Elon Musk, who also owns social media company X, was a leading adviser to the U.S. president before the two fell out, while the bosses of Amazon, Meta and Google-owner Alphabet took prominent spots at Trump's inauguration in January. Days before Trump took office, outgoing president Joe Biden had warned of an oligarchic 'tech industrial complex' threatening democracy. Berlin-based search engine Ecosia says it has benefited from some customers' desire to avoid U.S. counterparts like Microsoft's Bing or Google, which dominates web searches and is also the world's biggest email provider. 'The worse it gets, the better it is for us,' founder Christian Kroll said of Ecosia, whose sales pitch is that it spends its profits on environmental projects. Similarweb data shows the number of queries directed to Ecosia from the European Union has risen 27% year-on-year and the company says it has 1% of the German search engine market. But its 122 million visits from the 27 EU countries in February were dwarfed by 10.3 billion visits to Google, whose parent Alphabet made revenues of about $100 billion from Europe, the Middle East and Africa in 2024 - nearly a third of its $350 billion global turnover. Non-profit Ecosia earned 3.2 million euros ($3.65 million) in April, of which 770,000 euros was spent on planting 1.1 million trees. Google declined to comment for this story. Reuters could not determine whether major U.S. tech companies have lost any market share to local rivals in Europe. DIGITAL SOVEREIGNTY The search for alternative providers accompanies a debate in Europe about 'digital sovereignty' - the idea that reliance on companies from an increasingly isolationist United States is a threat to Europe's economy and security. 'Ordinary people, the kind of people who would never have thought it was important they were using an American service are saying, 'hang on!',' said UK-based internet regulation expert Maria Farrell. 'My hairdresser was asking me what she should switch to.' Use in Europe of Swiss-based ProtonMail rose 11.7% year-on-year to March compared to a year ago, according to Similarweb, while use of Alphabet's Gmail, which has some 70% of the global email market, slipped 1.9%. ProtonMail, which offers both free and paid-for services, said it had seen an increase in users from Europe since Trump's re-election, though it declined to give a number. 'My household is definitely disengaging,' said British software engineer Ken Tindell, citing weak U.S. data privacy protections as one factor. Trump's vice president JD Vance shocked European leaders in February by accusing them - at a conference usually known for displays of transatlantic unity - of censoring free speech and failing to control immigration. In May, Secretary of State Marco Rubio threatened visa bans for people who 'censor' speech by Americans, including on social media, and suggested the policy could target foreign officials regulating U.S. tech companies. U.S. social media companies like Facebook and Instagram parent Meta have said the European Union's Digital Services Act amounts to censorship of their platforms. EU officials say the Act will make the online environment safer by compelling tech giants to tackle illegal content, including hate speech and child sexual abuse material. Greg Nojeim, director of the Security and Surveillance Project at the Center for Democracy & Technology, said Europeans' concerns about the U.S. government accessing their data, whether stored on devices or in the cloud, were justified. Not only does U.S. law permit the government to search devices of anyone entering the country, it can compel disclosure of data that Europeans outside the U.S. store or transmit through U.S. communications service providers, Nojeim said. MISSION IMPOSSIBLE? Germany's new government is itself making efforts to reduce exposure to U.S. tech, committing in its coalition agreement to make more use of open-source data formats and locally-based cloud infrastructure. Regional governments have gone further - in conservative-run Schleswig-Holstein, on the Danish border, all IT used by the public administration must run on open-source software. Berlin has also paid for Ukraine to access a satellite-internet network operated by France's Eutelsat instead of Musk's Starlink. But with modern life driven by technology, 'completely divorcing U.S. tech in a very fundamental way is, I would say, possibly not possible,' said Bill Budington of U.S. digital rights nonprofit the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Everything from push notifications to the content delivery networks powering many websites and how internet traffic is routed relies largely on U.S. companies and infrastructure, Budington noted. Both Ecosia and French-based search engine Qwant depend in part on search results provided by Google and Microsoft's Bing, while Ecosia runs on cloud platforms, some hosted by the very same tech giants it promises an escape from. Nevertheless, a group on messaging board Reddit called BuyFromEU has 211,000 members. 'Just cancelled my Dropbox and will switch to Proton Drive,' read one post. Mastodon, a decentralised social media service developed by German programmer Eugen Rochko, enjoyed a rush of new users two years ago when Musk bought Twitter, later renamed X. But it remains a niche service. Signal, a messaging app run by a U.S. nonprofit foundation, has also seen a surge in installations from Europe. Similarweb's data showed a 7% month-on-month increase in Signal usage in March, while use of Meta's WhatsApp was static. Meta declined to comment for this story. Signal did not respond to an e-mailed request for comment. But this kind of conscious self-organising is unlikely on its own to make a dent in Silicon Valley's European dominance, digital rights activist Robin Berjon told Reuters. 'The market is too captured,' he said. 'Regulation is needed as well.'
