SES Americom, an SES GLOBAL company has closed a major new insurance placement, that represents one of the largest and most uniquely structured ever completed in the space market.

The package covers six communication satellites to be launched between January 2003 and 4th Quarter, 2004. The book value of the package is over $1.3 billion; specific terms were not disclosed.

Based on the industry-leading quality performance and reliability of the SES Americom and SES ASTRA fleets, the company negotiated a performance-based placement that should result in rates that have not been available in the space markets since 2000.

The placement was coordinated by Marsh – Space, which deployed specialized teams in its New York, London, Paris, Bermuda and Luxembourg offices to pull together the complex syndicate of almost two dozen underwriters.

“It’s clear that the ‘smart’ insurance money has good reason to commit to SES GLOBAL and to AMERICOM in particular. Through their participation in this mega placement, the blue chip insurers recognized that SES is worthy of differentiation and should not be penalized by the performance of our competitors,” said Dean Olmstead, President and CEO, SES Americom.

“We are delighted that the participants in this tiered package of coverage were willing to formulate a placement structure that recognizes us for industry-leading launch and spacecraft performance record and rewards us for continuing to deliver at that level,” commented Romain Bausch, President and CEO, SES GLOBAL.

“SES GLOBAL’s record of mission success and the sheer size of this placement created a favorable dynamic, at a time when the space insurance market is reeling from heavy losses and decreased premium volume.” said Mary Ann Curnan, Managing Director, Marsh – Space.

“A creative structure developed in partnership with AMERICOM enabled us to maximize participation from some of the strongest players in the business.”

The six spacecraft covered under the agreement are:

  • AMC-9, a hybrid C and Ku-band spacecraft being constructed by Alcatel and scheduled for an ILS launch into 72 degrees West on a Proton K in January 2003.
  • AMC-10, a C-band A2100 being constructed by Lockheed Martin and planned for an Atlas launch into 135 degrees West by ILS in early 2004 as one of two dedicated satellites for AMERICOM’s premium cable neighborhood.
  • AMC-11, a C-band A2100 being constructed by Lockheed Martin and planned for Atlas launch into 131 degrees West by ILS in early 2004 as the second dedicated satellite comprising AMERICOM’s premium cable neighborhood.
  • AMC-12, a large C-band spacecraft being constructed by Alcatel on a Spacebus 4000 and planned for an ILS Proton M/Breeze M launch into 37.5 degrees West in 4th Quarter 2003 to provide service over the Atlantic.
  • AMC-13, a large C-band spacecraft being built by Alcatel on a Spacebus 4000 and planned for an Ariane 5 ECA launch into 172 degrees East in 4th Quarter 2003 to provide service over the Pacific.
  • AMC-15, a hybrid Ku/Ka-band A2100 spacecraft being constructed by Lockheed Martin to be launched on an Ariane 5 ECA vehicle into 105 degrees West in the 2nd Half of 2004 as part of the AMERICOM2Home services to U.S. consumers.

    In November 2001, SES Americom was combined with SES ASTRA to form a new premier global satellite company, SES GLOBAL S.A.. The new company has a fleet of 28 satellites and can deliver satellite services to more than 90% of the world’s population.

    In addition, SES GLOBAL’s strategic partnerships and participation in AsiaSat, NSAB, Star One, AMERICOM Asia-Pacific and Nahuelsat combine to give entertainment, telecommunications, Internet, news and enterprise customers access to a fleet of 41 satellites.