Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP advised GHL Acquisition Corp. on its SEC-registered offering of 16,000,000 shares of common stock. Raymond James and Associates, Inc., RBC Capital Markets Corporation and Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated were the underwriters. The net proceeds of the offering were approximately $149 million and were used to repurchase shares of common stock and warrants. The closing of the offering was subject to the completion of GHL Acquisition’s acquisition of Iridium Holdings LLC. Upon closing of the acquisition, GHL Acquisition was renamed Iridium Communications Inc.

GHL Acquisition was the special-purpose acquisition company sponsored by Greenhill & Co., Inc., which raised approximately $400 million of gross proceeds from its initial public offering in February 2008. Based in Bethesda, Maryland, Iridium is a provider of mobile voice and data communications services via satellite offering global coverage.

The Davis Polk corporate team included partner Deanna L. Kirkpatrick and associates Wendi Hoeben, Eilleen J. Park and Margaret Chow. The tax team included partner William H. Weigel and associate Nancy Chen. Gwendolyn P. Ranada was the legal assistant on the transaction. All members of the Davis Polk team are based in the New York office.