The proposed $5bn (€3.8bn) buy-out of Intelsat, the second largest global satellite operator, is to be renegotiated after one of its satellites malfunctioned and disrupted services.

Intelsat, which agreed to be bought by private equity consortium Zeus in August, said the “temporary disruption” would not cause big damage to revenues. Playboy was the stricken Intelsat Americas-7 satellite's anchor tenant and most of its customers were quickly moved to remaining Intelsat satellites. But IA-7 was not insured, and replacing it will cause extra capital expenditure. The group recently said it had an annual capex budget of about $100m.