Wednesday, Aug 06, 2008
DUBAI (Zawya Dow Jones)--The United Arab Emirates' first nationally-owned satellite operator and Mubadala subsidiary, Al Yah Satellite, or Yahsat, said Wednesday it secured $1.6 billion in finance for a Mideast hybrid satellite communications system.
"Yahsat received commitments from leading international and regional banks in excess of $1.6 billion for the $1.2 billion financing," said Jassem Mohamed Al Zaabi, CEO of Yahsat in a statement.
In May Yahsat said it is approaching the financial market of raising project finance funding for its satellites.
The company's first satellite Yahsat 1A is being built and will be launched in the fourth quarter of 2010 and the second satellite, Yahsat 1B, will follow a few months later in the first half of 2011.
-By Tahani Karrar, Dow Jones Newswires, +9714 364 4965 Tahani.Karrar@dowjones.com
Copyright (c) 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
06-08-08 1110GMT
