The company says its reorganisation plan, filed as part of its Chapter 11 proceedings pending before a US bankruptcy court in Virginia, will position it for long-term success and has the backing of holders of $11 billion – or nearly 75% – of its funded debt. Intelsat is seeking to gain related approvals and establish voting procedures for the plan at a hearing scheduled for 1 September.
The firm hopes to emerge from Chapter 11 by the end of 2021, after it filed for bankruptcy protection in May 2020 – with CEO Stephen Spengler (pictured) highlighting at the time “substantial legacy debt”.
Under its reorganisation plan, Intelsat would emerge as a private company with the support of new equity owners and a vision for becoming publicly traded again within the next five years.
The company says that while the financial restructuring process has been going on, it has made headway on a number of technological innovations, including the building of what it describes as “the world’s first global 5G satellite-based, software-defined, unified network of networks”.