Paris, January 30, 2026, 16:16 CET
- France’s finance minister stepped in to halt Eutelsat’s planned sale of ground antennas, citing national security concerns
- The scrapped deal with EQT was projected to generate roughly €550 million in net proceeds
- Eutelsat and EQT announced the deal won’t go through, as the closing conditions weren’t fulfilled
France blocked satellite operator Eutelsat from selling its ground antennas to Swedish private equity firm EQT, Finance Minister Roland Lescure said Friday, citing national security concerns. Following the announcement, Eutelsat shares dropped roughly 5% in early trading in Paris. Reuters
The move highlights just how far Paris will go to maintain control over satellite infrastructure tied to defence and telecoms, especially as European governments push to reduce dependence on foreign networks for secure communications. The Financial Times also confirmed the government’s veto of the deal. Ft
This deal hits Eutelsat at an awkward moment. The company had promoted the sale as a way to raise cash and restructure its balance sheet. Notably, France remains Eutelsat’s largest shareholder, holding 29.6% of the company.
“These antennas serve both civilian and military communications … they’re a strategic asset. So I said no,” Lescure told TF1, noting that Eutelsat stood as “Starlink’s only European competitor.”
Eutelsat announced Thursday that its planned sale of passive ground segment infrastructure assets won’t proceed because the necessary “conditions precedent” weren’t met — meaning the required approvals and other closing steps fell through. A company spokesperson declined to respond to Lescure’s comments.
Eutelsat announced that net proceeds from the deal would have been around €550 million. The associated service agreement would have imposed a negative annualised impact of €75 million to €80 million on adjusted EBITDA — a key metric companies use to gauge operating cash profit. The company also revised its year-end net debt to EBITDA ratio forecast upward to about 2.7 times, up from the previous 2.5 times. Businesswire
EQT announced that the deal, initially revealed in August 2024, “will not proceed” since the closing conditions weren’t satisfied. The company confirmed it will continue supporting SatPort Infrastructure, the platform intended to manage the ground station business, as an independent entity. Eqtgroup
Lescure sought to disconnect the veto from the buyer. After his TV comments, he posted on Bluesky that the decision was about French sovereignty and “in no way linked to the quality of the investor.”
Ground antennas link satellites to earth networks, a setup that governments find sensitive since it handles both civilian data and military communications. This dual-use aspect was key to the minister’s concern.
Eutelsat secured a 10-year, 1 billion euro deal last year to supply satellite services to the French army, Lescure confirmed. The minister emphasized that the ground network represents a sovereign capability for the country, beyond just commercial equipment.
Formed in 2023 after merging with OneWeb, Eutelsat presents itself as a combined operator of geostationary and low-Earth orbit satellites. It reports managing 33 GEO satellites alongside a LEO constellation exceeding 600 satellites.
The risk has shifted to financial and political territory. Eutelsat misses out on a big cash influx it was counting on, though it sidesteps the ongoing service expenses tied to the deal’s structure. Investors now have to factor in the chance that other deals might also attract state-level scrutiny.
In the same interview, Lescure highlighted another example of state oversight: the sale of French defence company LMB Aerospace to U.S.-based Loar Holdings. He noted France would retain a “golden share” — a special stake granting the state veto power — and production would stay in the Correze region.
