SES confirms end of Intelsat merger talks

By Nilutpal Timsina

(Reuters) -SES SA said on Thursday that it has ceased merger talks with Intelsat, ending what would have signaled further consolidation in the rapidly changing satellite internet industry.

In March, SES said it was in talks with Luxembourg-based Intelsat over a possible combination of their businesses that would create an industry giant.

Bloomberg, which first reported the merger talks last year, said the transaction would have been worth more than $10 billion including debt.

SES confirmed in a statement on Thursday that those discussions have ended.

Intelsat, which emerged from bankruptcy last year, said that it engages in strategic conversations with potential partners regularly and it does not publicly comment on the content or outcome of those discussions.

A breakdown in discussions slows down a trend of consolidation in the satellite internet industry, which has increasingly raised competition concerns.

In July last year, French satellite firm Eutelsat announced an agreement to merge with Britain's OneWeb in a bid to challenge the likes of Elon Musk-owned SpaceX's Starlink and Amazon.com's Project Kuiper.

Reuters earlier reported, citing a source, that the two companies have ended discussions on a merger.

(Reporting by Nilutpal Timsina and Kanjyik Ghosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)