OREANDA-NEWS. Apax France has signed with Airbus Group a share purchase agreement (SPA) for the acquisition of 100% of the share capital of the legal entities comprising Airbus Group's Commercial Satellite Communication business. 

The final closing of the transaction - subject to regulatory approvals - is expected to take place in the next months. 

The maritime and land commercial satcom business is present in 14 countries across Europe, Asia, Middle-East and Americas, and has a distribution network of approximately 400 re-sellers worldwide. It serves all maritime sectors in the world and thousands of users operating in challenging environments in the mining, energy and humanitarian sectors that needs highly reliable satcom mobile and fixed connectivity services. It was recently nominated the largest maritime satcom provider worldwide. 

The government satcom business is not part of this transaction and remains part of Airbus Defence and Space' core activities. 

Altamir will invest via and alongside funds managed by Apax France. The transaction corresponds to the €50m commitment made by Altamir as of 30 June 2015. 

About Altamir 

Altamir (Euronext Paris-B, ticker: LTA) is a listed private equity company with more than €600m in assets under management.  The company was created 20 years ago as a means for any investor to access private equity, one of the best performing asset classes over the long term. 

Altamir invests via and with the funds managed or advised by Apax Partners France and Apax Partners LLP, two leading private equity firms in their respective markets. 

Altamir provides access to a diversified portfolio of fast-growing companies across Apax's sectors of specialisation: TMT, Retail & Consumer, Healthcare, Business & Financial Services; mid-sized companies in French-speaking European countries and larger companies across Europe, North America and key emerging markets. 

Altamir derives certain tax benefits from its status as an SCR ("societe de capital risque"). As such, Altamir is exempt from corporate tax and the company's investors may benefit from tax exemptions, subject to specific holding-period and dividend-reinvestment conditions.