Blackstone Purchase of New Skies Satellites Granted Early Termination of HSR Waiting Period

THE HAGUE, Netherlands New Skies Satellites N.V. (AEX, NYSE: NSK), the global satellite communications company, and The Blackstone Group, a leading private investment firm, announced today that they have received early termination of the required waiting period under the U.S. Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 for Blackstone’s acquisition of New Skies.

Under Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR), New Skies and Blackstone were required to make a pre-closing filing with the U.S. competition authorities demonstrating that their proposed transaction would not violate U.S. anti-trust laws. They were precluded from closing the transaction until the “waiting period” set forth in the Act expired or the U.S. authorities agreed to grant early termination. Having now completed the HSR process, an important precondition to closing the Blackstone/New Skies transaction has been fulfilled.

New Skies announced June 6 that it had signed a definitive agreement for the sale of the Company to affiliates of The Blackstone Group. The transaction has the unanimous approval of New Skies’ Supervisory and Management Boards who will recommend it to the Company’s shareholders at an Extraordinary General Meeting of shareholders on July 19.

About New Skies Satellites

New Skies Satellites (AEX, NYSE: NSK) is one of only four fixed satellite communications companies with truly global satellite coverage, offering video, data, voice and Internet communications services to a range of telecommunications carriers, broadcasters, large corporations, Internet service providers and government entities around the world. New Skies has five satellites in orbit, ground facilities around the world and one additional spacecraft under construction. The company also has secured certain rights to make use of additional orbital positions for future growth. New Skies is headquartered in The Hague, The Netherlands, and has offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, New Delhi, São Paulo, Singapore, Sydney and Washington, D.C. Additional information is available at www.newskies.com.

About The Blackstone Group

The Blackstone Group, a private investment and advisory firm with offices in New York, Atlanta, Boston, London and Hamburg, was founded in 1985. The firm has raised a total of approximately $32 billion for alternative asset investing since its formation. Over $14 billion of that has been for private equity investing, including Blackstone Capital Partners IV, the largest institutional private equity fund ever raised at $6.45 billion, and Blackstone Communications Partners I, the largest dedicated communications and media fund at over $2.0 billion. In addition to Private Equity Investing, The Blackstone Group’s core businesses are Private Real Estate Investing, Corporate Debt Investing, Marketable Alternative Asset Management, Corporate Advisory, and Restructuring and Reorganization Advisory. www.blackstone.com

Safe Harbor

Section 27A of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934 provide a “safe harbor” for forward-looking statements made by an issuer of publicly traded securities and persons acting on its behalf. New Skies Satellites N.V. has made certain forward-looking statements in this document in reliance on those safe harbors. A forward-looking statement concerns the company’s or management’s intentions or expectations, or are predictions of future performance. These statements are identified by words such as “intends”, “expects”, “anticipates”, “believes”, “estimates”, “may”, “will”, “should” and similar expressions. By their nature, forward-looking statements are not a matter of historical fact and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause New Skies’ actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements for a number of reasons. Factors which may affect the future performance of New Skies include: delays or problems in the construction or launch of future satellites; technical performance of in-orbit satellites and earth-based infrastructure; increased competition and changes in technology; growth of and access to the company’s target markets; legal and regulatory developments affecting the company’s business; and worldwide business and economic conditions, among other things. These risks and other risks affecting New Skies’ business are described in the company’s periodic filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to New Skies’ Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2002. Copies of these filings may be obtained by contacting the SEC. New Skies disclaims any obligation to update the forward-looking statements contained in this document.