(Adds court sanction for takeover scheme)
By Paul Sandle
LONDON, Dec 3 (Reuters) – A private equity consortium’s $3.4 billion takeover of British satellite company Inmarsat was approved at a court hearing on Tuesday after hedge fund investors dropped a plan to challenge the value of the deal.
Activists Oaktree, Kite Lake and Rubric Capital wanted the court to block the deal’s “scheme of arrangement” because they said the price did not reflect the value of Inmarsat’s longstanding agreement with U.S. broadband company Ligado.
Victory for the hedge funds would have sent shockwaves through the M&A sector because scheme of arrangements are usually rubber stamped by courts following shareholder approval.
Inmarsat’s buyer – a consortium of UK-based Apax Partners, U.S.-based Warburg Pincus and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) – squared up to the hedge funds on Monday when it made its offer final and said it would not extend the Dec. 10 expiration date, in effect closing the…
