Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers yesterday failed to price the initial public offering of New Skies Satellites, a global commercial satellite operator, within its initial $18 to $20 a share price range. It is the second private-equity-owned satellite operator to slash its float price in two months.

Lehman and Goldman were joint bookrunners to the New York Stock Exchange listing, offering 11.9 million shares which they priced today at $16.50 raising $196m (€149m) and giving the group a market capitalisation of $505m.