Space42, an Abu Dhabi-based satellite manufacturer and space tech company, secured a $695.5M Export Credit Agency-backed loan to complete the development of its next two GEO comms sats—Al Yah 4 and Al Yah 5.
The loan was arranged by a mixture of French and Spanish financial institutions—including Crédit Agricole CIB, Santander CIB, Société Générale, and Natixis—and backed by Bpifrance Assurance Export.
Loan bearing: Space42 has a lot of irons in the fire. Its plan highlights four pillars of growth across the space supply chain, including:
- Geospatial intelligence and EO capabilities;
- AI platforms and services;
- IoT and direct-to-device capabilities;
- Secure connectivity solutions—meaning, its GEO Al Yah constellation.
While Space42 has made strides in each of these areas since it formed out of a merger between Bayanat and Yahsat in October, its GEO satellite constellation has been the main driver of revenue thus far.
Al Yah 4 and Al Yah 5—expected to launch in 2027 and 2028, respectively—are financed by a 17-year, $5.1B contract from the UAE government for sovereign-backed connectivity services.
The two sats will provide military-Ka-band and C-band connectivity for the UAE, as well as partners in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and Asia. The sats will act as a complement to, and eventually replacement, for the more than 10-year-old Al Yah 1 and Al Yah 2 sats.
Sheik down: Space42 posted earnings of $317M in 2024, and ended the year with over $1.1B in cash.
Since then, it’s signed a handful of major deals to build its geospatial intelligence business, including a joint venture with ICEYE to develop SAR sats in the UAE, and a $100M collaboration with Edge Group, the Emirati defense conglomerate, to share data from Space42’s Foresight EO constellation.
However, it’s impossible to ignore just how much of Space42’s future growth depends on two satellites financed by the UAE government. Space42 boasts a contracted revenue backlog of over $7B, nearly three quarters of which stems from the $5.1B UAE contract for Al Yah 3 and Al Yah 4.
