There is a lot of cross-ownership. LOR is a rather incestuous company in that respect. Forty-Nine percent of SS/L is currently owned by foreign interests. This was actually a brilliant move on the part of Bernard Schwartz because it enabled the old Loral to get SS/L for pretty close to nothing. The Europeans financed the purchase, and Loral got to keep a majority interest. This was also a big experiment in the defense industry because it was the first time that the state department allowed a domestic defense contractor to be owned to this extent by foreigners. So far the national interest part of it has worked smoothly, to my knowlege.
The original reason for getting the 49ers (as we at SS/L call them) in on the purchase, besides financing, was to create synergies. I will refrain from expressing an opinion as to whether this goal has been met effectively. In the first couple of years there was not a great deal of business between SS/L and the 49ers, then came Globalstar. And things got really messy. I'm not as involved today as I was when Globalstar was in its infancy, but back then both Loral corporate and SS/L owned stakes in Globalstar, LP. The 49ers had individual stakes in G*, and at the same time retained their stakes in SS/L. In order to get the synergy thing rolling, GLP ordered 56 satellites from SS/L which then subbed out to the 49ers. Thus SS/L's owners were its customers, and SS/L was a customer of GLP, of which it was an owner.
Lockheed Martin does hold 20% of LOR, but so far I haven't heard of any new ventures springing from this. LOR's assets are pretty simple, right now. Interests in GLP, SS/L, and the brake company, a big chunk of cash (supplied Lockheed Martin), and a plan to purchase ATT Skynet(?). Somebody recently posted that Lockheed Martin couldn't afford SS/L. That's probably part of it. But there may have also been antitrust concerns. And don't forget that Mr. Schwartz needed a foundation from which to build his next empire.
Eduardo |
