# PanAmSat

PanAmSat Corporation was a satellite service provider headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1984 by Reynold "Rene" Anselmo, it operated a fleet of communications satellites used by the entertainment industry, news agencies, internet service providers, government agencies, and telecommunication companies. Anselmo got the idea for PanAmSat from Norm Leventhal, a communications lawyer in Washington, D.C., to whom he had turned to for advice regarding difficulties he was encountering in getting reasonably priced satellite transmission for his Spanish International Network (SIN), the current-day Univision. Anselmo financed the entire project himself and Leventhal's law firm, hiring Martin Rothblatt for special satellite technical advice, filed for approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and lining up an initial satellite from RCA Astro-Electronics and a heavily discounted launch from Arianespace.
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. Univision would also gain a nationwide cable audience through PanAmSat's efforts, gaining a head start in Spanish-language television in the United States and remaining the #1 Spanish network to this day.
Following the death of Rene Anselmo in 1995, his widow Mary Anselmo controlled the company for a time. PanAmSat was sold to Hughes Electronics, a division of General Motors, in a US$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 Electronic's PanAmSat division and on 24 April 2004 sold PanAmSat to a consortium of private equity firms in a leveraged buyout including Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR), Carlyle Group and Providence Equity Partners for US$4.3 billion.

## 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 US$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 US$250 million in discount notes 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 archrival Intelsat in August 2005 for a total of US$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 2001), the new company — called Intelsat — is the world's largest commercial satellite company, with 53 spacecraft serving over 200 countries, with nearly 1400 employees.
In March 2007, Forbes magazine estimated the net worth of Rene Anselmo's widow, Mary Anselmo at US$1 billion. Anselmo, 78, lives in Greenwich, Connecticut.

## Satellite fleet

| Satellite | Manufacturer | Type | Launch vehicle | Launch date (UTC) | Status | Notes |
| SBS 1 | Hughes | HS-376 | Delta | 1 November 1980 | Retired January 1990 | |
| SBS 2 | Hughes | HS-376 | Delta | 1 September 1981 | Retired September 1996 | |
| SBS 3 | Hughes | HS-376 | Space Shuttle Columbia STS-5 | 11 November 1982 | Retired June 1995 | |
| Galaxy 1 | Hughes | HS-376 | Delta | 1 June 1983 | Retired 1 April 1994 | |
| Galaxy 2 | Hughes | HS-376 | Delta | 1 September 1983 | Retired May 1994 | |
| SBS 4 | Hughes | HS-376 | Space Shuttle Discovery STS-41-D | 30 August 1984 | Retired August 1999 | |
| Galaxy 3 | Hughes | HS-376 | Delta | 1 September 1984 | Retired October 1995 | |
| PAS-1 | General Electric | GE-3000 | Ariane 44LP (V22) | 15 June 1988 | Retired February 2001 | |
| SBS 5 | Hughes | HS-376 | Ariane 3 (V25) | 1 September 1988 | Retired March 2000 | |
| SBS 6 | Hughes | HS-393 | Ariane 44L (V39) | 1 October 1990 | Retired April 2009 | |
| Galaxy 6 | Hughes | HS-376 | Ariane 44L | 12 October 1990 | Retired February 2003 | |
| Galaxy 5 | Hughes | HS-376 | Atlas I | 14 March 1992 | Retired January 2005 | |
| Galaxy 1R | Hughes | HS-376 | Atlas I | 22 August 1992 | 22 August 1992 | Launch failure |
| Galaxy 7 | Hughes | HS-601 | Ariane 42P+ (V54) | 28 October 1992 | Failure on orbit November 2000 | |
| Galaxy 4 | Hughes | HS-601 | Ariane 42P+ (V57) | 1 June 1993 | Failure on orbit May 1998 | |
| Galaxy 1R | Hughes | HS-376 | Delta II (7925-8) | 19 February 1994 | Retired 7 March 2006 | |
| PAS 2 | Hughes | HS-601 | Ariane 44L (V65) | 8 July 1994 | Retired December 2008 | Intelsat 2, (formerly PAS-2) |
| PAS 3 | Hughes | HS-601 | Ariane 42P (V70) | 1 December 1994 | 1 December 1994 | Launch failure |
| PAS 4 | Hughes | HS-601 | Ariane-42L H10-3 | 3 August 1995 | Retired | |
| Galaxy 3R | Hughes | HS-601 | Atlas IIA | 1 December 1995 | Failure on orbit March 2006 | |
| PAS 3R | Hughes | HS-601 | Ariane 44L (V82) | 12 January 1996 | Retired | Intelsat 3R (formerly PAS-3R) |
| Galaxy 9 | Hughes | HS-376 | Delta II (7925) | 12 June 1996 | Retired | |
| PAS 6 | Space Systems / Loral | LS-1300 | Ariane 44P | 8 August 1997 | Failure on orbit April 2004 | |
| PAS 5 | Hughes | HS-601HP | Proton-K | 27 August 1997 | Active | |
| Galaxy 8i | Hughes | HS-601HP | Atlas IIAS | 8 December 1997 | Retired October 2002 | |
| Galaxy 10 | Hughes | HS-601HP | Delta III | 26 August 1998 | Launch failure 26 August 1998 | Launch failure |
| PAS 7 | Space Systems / Loral | LS-1300 | Ariane 44LP | 15 September 1998 | Retired | |
| PAS 8 | Space Systems / Loral | LS-1300 | Proton-K | 4 November 1998 | Retired December 2016 | |
| PAS 6B | Hughes | HS-601HP | Ariane 42L | 21 December 1998 | Active | |
| Galaxy 11 | Hughes | HS-702 | Ariane 44L | 21 December 1999 | Active | |
| Galaxy 10R | Hughes | HS-6016P | Ariane 42L | 24 January 2000 | Retired May 2008 | |
| Galaxy 4R | Hughes | HS-601HP | Ariane 42L | 18 April 2000 | Retired July 2006 | |
| PAS 9 | Hughes | HS-601HP | Sea Launch, Zenit-3SL | 28 July 2000 | Active | |
| PAS 12 | Space Systems / Loral | LS-1300 | Ariane 44LP | 29 October 2000 | Active | Previously Europe * Star 1 → PAS 12 → Intelsat 12 |
| PAS 1R | Hughes | HS-702 | Ariane 5G | 15 November 2000 | Retired 2016 | |
| PAS 10 | Hughes | HS-601HP | Proton | 15 May 2001 | Active | |
| Galaxy 3C | Hughes | HS-702 | Sea Launch, Zenit-3SL | 15 June 2002 | Active | |
| Galaxy 12 | Orbital Sciences Corporation | GEOStar-2 | Ariane 5G | 9 April 2003 | Active | |
| Galaxy 13 | Hughes | HS-601HP | Sea Launch, Zenit-3SL | 1 October 2003 | Active | |
| Galaxy 14 | Orbital Sciences Corporation | GEOStar-2 | Soyuz-FG / Fregat | 14 August 2005 | Active | |
| Galaxy 15 | Orbital Sciences Corporation | GEOStar-2 | Ariane 5GS | 14 October 2005 | Active - Failure on orbit of command system, April 2010. Control re-established in December 2010. | Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) payload |