XM Satellite Radio expects to be ‘fully funded’ and won’t need to...

the SEC for an offering of 18 million shares of its class A common stock (CD Jan 15 p12). It said the $183.6 million in estimated net proceeds would be used to repay debt and for general corporate purposes. XM said it was continuing to pursue payments on insurance claims it filed for the solar anomaly on its 2 existing Boeing satellites, and would use those payments to repay vendor financing it expected to be used for the launch of one or 2 replacement satellite. XM’s insurers have denied the company’s claims, but it said it had continued trying to negotiate a settlement. With the Sept. 2003 completion of a class A common offering and the sale of notes completed last June, XM said it had raised “substantially all of the funds” it would need for the completion and launch of its 3rd satellite, XM-3, and the construction of a 4th, XM-4, should insurance payouts not be received “in a timely manner.” XM has said the solar anomaly significantly curtailed the life expectancy of its 2 orbiting satellites. As a long-term hedge against future failures, XM has made plans to launch XM-3, currently its ground spare satellite, into one of 2 orbital slots by the end of the year and operate its 2 orbiting satellites together in the other slot. Those 2 would be replaced in 2007 with the launch of XM-4, XM has said. In Dec., XM amended its satellite contract with Boeing to revise its payment schedule on XM-3 and XM-4, the prospectus said. Also amended were unspecified “performance incentive payment terms” on the 2 orbiting satellites.