[SatNEws] GeoEye, Inc. (Nasdaq: GEOY) has completed the previously announced private placement of 80,000 shares of the Company's Series A Convertible Preferred Stock to Cerberus Satellite LLC, an affiliate of Cerberus Capital Management, L.P.

Gross proceeds to the Company from the private placement were $78 million, which will be used for the development and launch of GeoEye-2, the Company's nexgen commercial Earth-imaging satellite. As announced last March, Cerberus agreed with the Company to support its bid for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency's (NGA) EnhancedView award. Cerberus' support included a commitment by Cerberus to purchase the Company's Series A Convertible Preferred Stock following a successful bid. This commitment was conditioned upon the final award to GeoEye of a satellite under the program. This private placement of preferred shares follows the award on Aug. 6, 2010 to GeoEye from the NGA of the $3.8 billion EnhancedView contract. Under the terms of the contract award, the NGA will contribute up to $336.9 million to the Company toward the overall construction costs of the GeoEye-2 satellite. The Company anticipates that GeoEye-2 will be operational in 2013. The EnhancedView award includes $2.8 billion for commercial satellite imagery purchases by the NGA over the next 10 years under the terms of a Service Level Agreement from GeoEye's satellite constellation. The Company was also awarded $700 million for value-added products and services to include the design and procurement of additional infrastructure to support government operations. This also includes our EyeQ™ Web Mapping Services to be delivered under the Service Level Agreement.