28 March 2012

 

Loral Space & Communications Inc.  announced that its Board of Directors has declared a special dividend of $13.60 per share for an aggregate dividend of up to $421 million. The dividend is payable on April 20, 2012 to holders of record of Loral voting and non-voting common stock as of April 10, 2012. As of March 27, 2012, there were outstanding 21,117,311 shares of Loral voting common stock and 9,505,673 shares of Loral non-voting stock.

 

Loral's declaration of this special dividend is a direct result of Telesat's completion today of a refinancing and recapitalization transaction which resulted in a dividend from Telesat to Loral. As part of the transaction, Telesat entered into a new credit agreement that replaced its existing credit agreement and increased its indebtedness by approximately $490 million. Commenting on Telesat's refinancing, Michael B. Targoff, Chief Executive Officer of Loral, said: "I am particularly gratified that Telesat was able to raise approximately $2.5 billion of bank financing with an average annual interest rate of approximately 4.4%, another testament to the strength of the Telesat business."

 

In addition, the Board of Directors and shareholders of Telesat approved payments to Telesat's option holders and distributions to Telesat's shareholders of CAD 705 million in the aggregate, of which a total of CAD 420 million will be paid to Loral. The distributions by Telesat to its shareholders were authorized to be paid in two tranches; the first tranche was paid by Telesat on March 28, 2012, the closing date of the transaction, with Loral receiving CAD 375 million, and the second tranche is planned for payment in the third quarter of 2012 with Loral to receive CAD 45 million. The dividend to be paid to Loral's shareholders approximates the full amount of both dividend tranches to be received by Loral from Telesat. Pending receipt of the second tranche from Telesat, Loral will use its available cash balance to fund the difference between the Loral dividend being paid and the proceeds received from Telesat.

 

Regarding the dividend, Mr. Targoff said: "Our investment in Telesat has provided Loral with handsome book returns and growth since our acquisition. Receipt of this significant dividend from Telesat is a partial realization of this investment, and we are pleased to be able to share that with Loral's shareholders."