Providence Equity Partners, a private equity investment company specialising in media, communications, software and services industries, has entered into exclusive discussions with Marlink owners Apax Partners SAS for the sale of a majority shareholding in the satcom service provider.
Providence Equity Partners, headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, USA, also has offices in New York and London and controls approximately $45 billion in aggregate capital commitments. The costs involved in the Marlink deal have not been disclosed.
Any transaction would be subject to customary and regulatory approvals before completion, including necessary consultations with the company’s works council, Paris-based Apax notes.
The proposed sale has been announced approximately five years after Apax Partners completed its own acquisition of Marlink from Airbus Group, consisting of all of Airbus’ commercial satellite communications business.
Airbus itself had purchased the Marlink business from Apax Partners approximately five years earlier, at that time called Vizada, in a $960 million deal in 2011, though this transaction also included government business contracts that were retained by Airbus following the Apax buyback.
Today Marlink has a presence in more than 130 countries and employs over 1,000 people, supplying satellite and IT services to customers mainly in the in the maritime and enterprise sectors.
