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Rumors of a Liberty/EchoStar joint bid for Intelsat was not enough to secure an ownership role in the fixed satellite services provider. Instead, the commercial satellite giant will become part of BC Partners, an international private equity firm, and a group of other investment interests.

According to the company, the BC-led consortium will acquire more than three-fourths (76 percent) primary ownership of Intelsat parent Intelsat Holdings for about $5.03 billion, in addition to about $11.4 billion in company debt. Intelsat said its shareholders, including funds advised by Apax Partners, Apollo Management, Madison Dearborn Partners, Permira and management, are expected to receive more than $4.5 billion in cash - and the remaining 24 percent ownership - when the deal is said and done.

“The private equity purchase, unlike one by the DBS providers, would raise no antitrust issues,” said Stifel Nicolaus’ Blair Levin. “As with Intelsat’s purchase of PanAmSat last year, the purchase of Intelsat will pay handsomely for the private equity sellers.”

Intelsat said the deal should close within six to nine months, pending regulatory approvals and conditions. The company said current CEO Dave McGlade is expected to continue to serve as chief executive.

In other Intelsat news, the company unveiled Tuesday its plans to launch a new Network Broadband GLOBAL Maritime service - the latest addition to its GlobalConnex portfolio. The solution is designed for maritime fleet management seeking global data and voice connectivity and will bring new levels of bandwidth capabilities to the maritime industry, the company said.

Utilizing Intelsat’s C-band capacity, the Network Broadband GLOBAL Maritime network operates at rates up to 2Mbps, with the initial service offering continuous communications with high-powered bandwidth rates from 128kbps to 512kbps, the company said.