Globalstar out of Covington merges with Atlanta based Fiberlight in 1.65 billion deal

Advocate Article

Globalstar will keep its operations in Covington, said Tim Taylor, the company’s vice president of finance, business operations and strategy. More than 200 people work for the company in Louisiana and a new, larger headquarters in Covington is set to open later this year.

The deal involves a merger with Thermo Acquisitions Inc., a company controlled by Jay Monroe, Globalstar's chief executive officer and executive chairman of the company's board of directors, then combining Globlastar's assets with FiberLight, 15.5 million shares of CenturyLink that Thermo has and are valued at $200 million, $100 million of cash and assets of $25 million in exchange for Globalstar common stock.

By adding $400 million in equity into Globalstar, it will give the business the resources to grow further, Taylor said. This also will help Globalstar's efforts to use its satellite spectrum for a terrestrial Wi-Fi network.

“We’ll be a much larger company and negotiating from a position of strength,” he said. “This accelerates the timing of partnering on the spectrum front.”

FiberLight has about 150 employees in its Atlanta and Dallas-area offices. Plans are to continue to operate the business as a separate company under the Thermo Companies banner, Taylor said. The merger will not affect employment at FiberLight.