S&P rates Iridium Communications B

Standard & Poor's said it assigned its B corporate credit rating to Iridium Communications Inc., formerly known as GHL Acquisition Corp., and withdrew the corporate credit rating on wholly owned subsidiary Iridium Satellite LLC and removed it from CreditWatch with positive implications, where it was placed on Sept. 25, 2008.

The B rating is one notch higher than the previous corporate credit rating of B- that was assigned to Iridium Satellite.

The rating action, which is in line with S&P's March 17, 2009 CreditWatch update on Iridium Satellite LLC, is due to the Sept. 29 consummation of the merger between Iridium Satellite LLC and GHL Acquisition Corp., a special-purpose acquisition company sponsored by Greenhill & Co. Inc.

As a result of the merger, the company fully repaid its credit facility, leaving the company with essentially relatively little outstanding debt. The B rating does incorporate S&P's expectations for the addition of significant new debt to finance the Iridium NEXT satellite constellation. The outlook is stable.

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