Starlink rival Eutelsat pops 22% as France backs capital raise

Eutelsat shares popped connected Friday morning, aft the European outer relation announced a 1.35 cardinal euro ($1.55 billion) superior rise led by the French authorities and backed by different investors.

The company's banal was up 22% astatine 10:15 a.m. London time.

The institution said that, on with a indebtedness refinancing plan, the superior summation would enactment its concern successful its existing Low Earth Orbit (LEO) capabilities, which are focused connected business-to-business and business-to-government operations.

The French authorities volition go Eutelsat's biggest shareholder pursuing the move, holding 29.99% of superior and voting rights, followed by India's Bharti Space Limited astatine 18.7%.

On Wednesday, Eutelsat announced a 10-year woody with the French equipped forces to supply priority-access abstraction resources connected its OneWeb LEO outer constellation.

Eutelsat shares person been hugely volatile this year, experiencing an tremendous spike successful March connected expectations that it could beryllium a European alternate to Elon Musk's Starlink, and subsequently dropping sharply.

"As the lone European relation with a afloat operational LEO network, Eutelsat is positioned to play a strategical relation successful supporting captious sectors specified arsenic subject communications, cyber-resilience, and unafraid authorities connectivity, afloat aligned with European Union and NATO objectives for strategical autonomy," it said successful the release.

Other investors, including the U.K., "could articulation the superior rise successful owed course," it added.

Writing connected X, French President Emmanuel Macron said that by strengthening Eutelsat's presumption France was "ensuring its strategical independency and paving the mode for Europe's" and noted helium would sermon the determination astatine the Paris Air Show connected Friday.

Eutelsat stock price.