Iridium Holdings, LLC
Fieldstone Partners has served as a financial advisor to Iridium Holdings, LLC since 2004. Iridium, based in Bethesda MD, operates the largest commercial satellite constellation in the world, and the only constellation which provides secure voice and data communications to all parts of the globe.
Fieldstone began its efforts when Iridium was operating at break-even levels. In 2008, the company recorded operational EBITDA of approximately $110 million on revenues of over $300 million.
Fieldstone has provided a range of services to Iridium over the past five years, including:
- Acquisition advisory services, examining a range of target acquisitions
- Long range financial planning for Iridium NEXT, an approximate $2.7 billion second generation satellite constellation, which is now in its initial design phase
- Co-managing an underwriter selection process for a $200 million underwritten senior debt placement, which was completed in July 2007
- Co-advising on an equity financing process, which culminated in an agreement in September 2008 to merge Iridium into GHL Acquisition Company (AMEX – GHQ), a $400 million publicly traded Special Purpose Acquisition Company managed by Greenhill & Co. (NYSE – GHL). This cash and stock merger closed in late September 2009, and the company now trades as Iridium Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ – IRDM).
