Private equity firms Apax Partners and Permira today sold part of their stakes in UK satellite operator, Inmarsat in a secondary sale led by JP Morgan Cazenove and Lehman Brothers.

Inmarsat said in a Regulatory News Service statement that it had placed 80 million ordinary shares, or 17.5% of the issued share capital, at 348p per share. The sale raised £278m (€406.9m).