Loral's board of directors rejected an offer from EchoStar to purchase all of Loral's assets for $1.85 billion, saying the bid "undervalues" the company's business.
EchoStar made the offer after Loral Space & Communication filed Chapter 11 in July and agreed to sell its six North American satellites to Intelsat for $1.1 billion. Loral's satellites include Telstar 4 which stopped transmitting signals two weeks ago and is no longer operable.
"EchoStar's bid undervalues Loral's businesses, especially in light of the significant increase in value that has been achieved since the beginning of the company's reorganization in July," said Bernard Schwartz, Loral CEO. "Further, we continue to believe that the best course of action for Loral to enhance the value of its assets, is to proceed with the proposed sale of our North American satellites and emerge from the bankruptcy process with a viable, ongoing satellite services and manufacturing business."
Loral has until Oct. 15 to decide what action to take on any bid offers.
