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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Mark Sweney

US satellite firm’s takeover of Inmarsat ‘not a step-in-and-steal deal’

Technicians work on the Inmarsat S-Band/Hellas Sat 3 satellite in the clean room facilities of the Thales Alenia Space plant in Cannes, France, in 2017
The British company Inmarsat was founded in 1979 and has about 1,800 staff globally. Photograph: Eric Gaillard/Reuters

The chief executive of the US satellite company that is buying Inmarsat for $7.3bn (£5.4bn) has said it is not “stealing” Britain’s crown jewel in the space communications race, and is confident the deal would be cleared by a potential investigation by the government to assess the threat of a foreign takeover to national security.

Rick Baldridge, the chief executive of Viasat, was in London with his team last week to meet government agencies, Inmarsat management and media as part of a mission to pave the way for clearance of the California-based company’s biggest ever deal.

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