PanAmSat

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Founded in 1984 by Rene Anselmo, PanAmSat Corporation (NYSE: PA) was a satellite service provider headquartered in Wilton, Connecticut. It operated a fleet of communications satellites used by the entertainment industry, news agencies, internet service providers, government agencies, and telecommunication companies.

PanAmSat effectively broke the monopoly on international satellite communications which was held by Intelsat, an international treaty-based organization founded and owned by several countries including the United States. PanAmSat, led by Anselmo, successfully lobbied the United States Congress to permit it to operate globally, competing against Intelsat. PanAmSat (and Anselmo) became famous for full-page advertisements in the Wall Street Journal depicting Spot, the PanAmSat mascot, urinating on politicians' legs. The company's motto was "Truth and Technology Will Triumph Over Bullshit and Bureauacy."

Following the death of Rene Anselmo in 1996, PanAmSat was sold to Hughes Electronics, a division of General Motors, in a $3 billion cash and stock deal. The satellite operations continued to be under PanAmSat with Hughes being the majority shareholder. In May 1997, Hughes Communication Galaxy merged with PanAmSat, adding 9 more satellites to its fleet. In 2003, News Corporation purchased Hughes Electronics and on April 24, 2004 sold PanAmSat to a consortium of private equity firms in an leveraged buyout including Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR), Carlyle Group and Providence Equity Partners for $4.3 billion.

[edit] 2004 leveraged buyout

KKR led the 2004 leveraged buyout by purchasing a 44% stake in the company. Carlyle and Providence each invested 27% with management representing the remainder of the equity. The consortium invested only $550 million in equity, financing the remainder through bank loans and bonds. The transaction closed in August 2004. One month after the buyout, the company issued an additional $250 million in discount notes which were used to pay the consortium dividends. Three months later, PanAmSat filed an initial public offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

In an ironic twist of fate, its private equity owners sold PanAmSat to its arch rival Intelsat in August 2005 for a total of $4.3 billion in a deal finally consummated in July 2006. At the time of its sale, PanAmSat was the world's leading carrier of TV channels. In combination with Intelsat (which had also gone private under private equity ownership in 2000), the new company — called Intelsat — is the world's largest commercial satellite company, with 53 spacecraft serving over 200 countries, and has nearly 1400 employees, a third of whom will be lost to attrition over the next 18 months. Global headquarters for the company is Washington, D.C. under the leadership of CEO David McGlade.

In March 2007, Forbes magazine estimated the net worth of Rene Anselmo's widow Mary Anselmo at $1 billion. Anselmo, 78, lives in Greenwich, Conn.