....in their $137 million financing for a series of four additional satellites to support super-fast broadband connections to Africa and other emerging markets. The project has been described by the BBC as “one of the most ambitious commercial space projects of the decade.” In 2010, Milbank represented O3b Networks in its $1.2 billion financing of the purchase from Thales Alenia Space of its first eight satellites. This year’s financing of four additional satellites will serve to significantly boost both the throughput and redundancy of the O3b constellation, virtually doubling its capacity through a combination of additional beams and enhanced link efficiency. The O3b constellation will be placed in a Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at an altitude of about 8,000km, providing coverage around the globe within a latitude of plus and minus 45 degrees.
O3b stands for the “other three billion,” a reference to nearly half of the world’s population that is not adequately served with broadband internet access due to the absence of a backbone of super-fast fibre-optic-cable connections in many regions. The Project is designed specifically to provide “fibre in the sky” broadband internet access to this underserved populace. The financing of this Project is unique in a number of respects. The Project has a multi-sourced financing structure which brings together one export credit agency, four commercial lenders, seven development finance institutions and nine equity investors. Although at first glance the sum raised for O3b is less dramatic than last year’s $1.2 billion, this financing was a hugely efficient way of strengthening the company’s long term position in the market by allowing it to benefit from crucial economies of scale.
The Milbank team representing O3b Networks was based out of London, New York and Washington and included members of the Company's Space Practice Group, the Global Project Finance Group and the Global Securities Group. John Dewar, lead partner for Milbank involved in the debt financing, said, “this transaction was truly global and Milbank was uniquely positioned to provide O3b Networks with the support they needed to get the job done.”