Telesat Canada, Loral finish merger

Satellite communications provider Telesat Canada and its majority owner, US-based Loral Space & Communications, have completed their previously announced merger, according to the combined company.

The new entity, Telesat Corporation, said on 19 November that it has begun trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, where Loral had been listed, and on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

The transaction, which was first announced in November 2020, is designed to give the satellite operator the benefits of public ownership, including access to capital markets to fuel its growth. Telesat is developing a new constellation of low Earth orbit satellites to provide broadband Internet connectivity worldwide. The Lightspeed constellation will “meet the rigorous requirements of telecom, government, maritime, and aeronautical customers”, the company says.

Under the merger, Telesat Canada and Loral have become subsidiaries of Telesat Corporation, which is based in Ottawa, Canada. Loral continues to own 56% of US-based satellite communications business XTAR, which will transfer to the new company unless its minority owner, HISDESAT, a consortium of Spanish telecommunications companies, exercises an option to buy it. Option expiration terms have not been publicly disclosed.