Satellite Operator Ligado Owes Business Partner $500 Million

Ligado Networks owes its main business partner about $500 million and will use a new lawsuit to resolve a contract dispute with the firm — Inmarsat Global Limited — lawyers said in the satellite operator’s first day in bankruptcy court.

Ligado will try to win bankruptcy court approval of a restructuring plan in about five months, attorney Andrew Leblanc told the judge overseeing the company’s insolvency case. While under court protection, Ligado will finish negotiating a proposed business deal with AST SpaceMobile Inc., and also pursue a lawsuit against Viasat Inc.’s Inmarsat over a 99-year-agreement they have related ...