SES Appoints Aerospace Veteran Elisabeth Pataki as New CFO Amid Intelsat Acquisition
European satellite operator SES announced on Friday the appointment of Elisabeth Pataki as its new chief financial officer, effective June 16. Pataki, currently CFO of Aerojet Rocketdyne, a unit of aerospace and defense giant L3Harris, will succeed Sandeep Jalan in the role.
SES CEO Adel Al-Saleh praised Pataki’s extensive experience in the aerospace sector and highlighted her successful track record in managing complex M&A finance integrations. This expertise comes as SES pursues a major $3.1 billion acquisition of Intelsat, a deal set to be one of the decade’s largest in the satellite industry and aimed at challenging SpaceX’s Starlink dominance.
The satellite sector is undergoing significant disruption as Starlink’s rapid expansion pressures traditional operators like SES, raising concerns about their financial stability. SES carries over $5 billion in total debt and has seen its five-year credit default swap (CDS) spreads climb to 235 basis points recently, signaling increased investor worries over default risk.
Despite this, SES confirmed in April that it has secured full financing for the Intelsat acquisition, which is currently awaiting approval from European antitrust authorities. The deal is seen as a strategic move to strengthen SES’s competitive position in a rapidly evolving market.
