ProtoStar Secures US$245 Million of Financing for Its Second Satellite to Serve the Asian DTH Market

San Francisco, CA, April 1, 2008 - ProtoStar Ltd., a Bermuda corporation, announced the closing of US$245 million of debt and equity financing to complete the on-going development and launch of its second satellite. 

The satellite, a Boeing 601HP, is expected to be launched in early 2009 on an International Launch Services (ILS) Proton rocket. ProtoStar has already pre-leased a significant portion of capacity on the satellite, to be named ProtoStar II.

“This is surely one of the more challenging financings in the satellite sector given the market’s current difficulties, and the fact that we were able to pull this together is a strong endorsement of the market opportunity for ProtoStar,” said Philip Father, ProtoStar’s President and CEO. “With a large percent of the funding coming from Asian investors, it reflects the region’s commitment to support the next generation of television services in Asia and the strength of ProtoStar’s business plan.”  
 
Credit Suisse acted as sole bookrunner and joint lead arranger for the recently completed financing and Jefferies & Co. acted as a joint lead arranger. ProtoStar will use the proceeds to complete the refurbishment of a pre-built Boeing manufactured satellite. The satellite’s components have been tailored for high power “footprints” over Indonesia, the Indian Sub-continent and the Philippines/Taiwan. 

This financing was preceded by US$260 million of funding in late 2006 to support its first satellite program, ProtoStar I. That satellite, a Space Systems/Loral FS1300, is scheduled to launch on an Arianespace launch vehicle in the second quarter of this year.

The footprints of ProtoStar I and II across Asia have been customized to meet the immediate and long term needs of its anchor DTH operator customers and will be positioned in orbital slots that will provide coverage to South Asia, South East Asia and Indochina, an area with a population of over 3 billion.

About ProtoStar
ProtoStar, a Bermuda corporation with subsidiary operations in San Francisco, CA. and Singapore, was formed to acquire and operate high-power geostationary satellites optimized for DTH satellite television in the Asia-Pacific region. The firm is led by seasoned veterans from the satellite, direct-to-home television, telecommunications and finance industries. For more information please visit: www.protostarsat.com.