The planned sale of Eutelsat’s ground infrastructure for €550 million has collapsed. Reuters is reporting that the French government stepped in to scupper the sale.

French Finance Minister Roland Lescure earlier this week blocked Eutelsat’s sale of its ground antennas, he said on January 30th, citing national security concerns tied to the satellite operator, the main European rival to Elon Musk’s Starlink. “These antennas are used for both civilian and military communications. Eutelsat is Starlink’s only European competitor. It is clearly a strategic asset. And so I said no,” Lescure told TV station TF1, reported Reuters.

The buyer was supposed to be private equity investor EQT Infrastructure VI. Eutelsat says that certain conditions were not met.

Eutelsat’s shares fell 5 per cent in early trading on January 30th.

“The net proceeds attributable to Eutelsat from the transaction would have been in the region of €550 million, while the negative annualised impact on adjusted EBITDA associated with the service agreement entered into with the prospective buyer amounted to €75-80 million,” said Eutelsat.

“The non-completion of the transaction does not affect Eutelsat’s ability to fund the capital expenditure related to its strategic growth trajectory,” stressed Eutelsat.

EQT, in its statement, says: “[Our] SatPort Infrastructure will continue to pursue its strategy of building a resilient, secure and scalable satellite ground infrastructure platform, serving a broad range of satellite operators, governments and enterprise customers. Without the closing of this transaction, EQT Infrastructure VI is expected to be 60-65 per cent invested (including closed and/or signed investments, announced public offers, if applicable, and less any expected syndication).”

The deal with EQT was announced in August 2024 and was expected to create an entity that would hold Eutelsat’s passive ground infrastructure assets – including land, buildings, support infrastructure, antennas, and connectivity circuits for the combined portfolio of teleports and SNPs. The agreement saw EQT acquiring an 80 percent stake in the planned new entity, while Eutelsat Group would “remain committed as a long-term shareholder, anchor tenant, and partner” with a 20 per cent holding.

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Tags: eqt, eutelsat, teleport