The new ISS Roll-Out Solar Array (iROSA) will be used on part of the main solar field of the International Space Station ISS
NASA Johnson Space Center
Space infrastructure giant Redwire began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, joining a spate of space companies completing SPAC mergers and going public.
“We are really trying to get the message across, beyond the broader SPAC noise, that we are a revenue and cash flow positive, financially very conservative, and fast growing company,” Peter Cannito, Chairman and CEO of Redwire, told CNBC .
Redwire, which was founded last year by the private equity firm AE Industrial Partners, merged with the special purpose vehicle Genesis Park and is now trading under the ticker “RDW”.
Redwire’s shares rose as much as 20% in trading from their previous closing price of $ 10.50.
Redwire is the sixth space company this year to close a SPAC deal and go public – after AST & Science, Astra, Spire Global, Momentus and Rocket Lab. A few more space companies are expected to go public before the end of the year, with deals from BlackSky, Satellogic and Planet.
Cannito stressed that the merger with a SPAC was “just a convenient mechanism for Redwire to go public,” with the benefit that the deal adds up to $ 170 million in cash. The merger valued Redwire at $ 675 million in equity.
Redwire, which has spent much of the past 12 months acquiring and integrating seven space companies into one, plans to use that money to continue “creative M&A” as well as make “some internal investments” along the way, Cannito said .
“We have a really exciting pipeline of opportunities that we are exploring,” said Cannito.
He also stressed that Redwire is “uniquely positioned from an investment perspective” as it is a pure space stock with more than $ 100 million in annual sales and positive cash flow. Cannito described the ARKX Space ETF, created by Cathie Woods Ark Invest, as a debut without many “options to go into”.
“We’re giving investors out there the opportunity to invest in the future of space with the company that has a conservative financial position and is therefore able to invest in the future of space over the long term,” said Cannito.
Partnerships and deals across the industry
Andrew Rush, Chief Operating Officer of Redwire, shows former NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine a spacecraft model from subsidiary Made In Space.
Redwire room
Redwire’s vision is to provide the “people who live and work in space” with the tools and manufacturing necessary to grow the economy in orbit and beyond, Cannito said.
Redwire has five strategic focus areas: space commercialization, digitally engineered spacecraft, in-orbit services and manufacturing, advanced sensors and components, and space awareness.
The company has reached a number of milestones since it announced its intention to merge and go public.
The company’s iROSA solar arrays were supplied to the International Space Station ISS by SpaceX. Also, Redwire sent a new 3D printer into space to demonstrate manufacturing with lunar surface material, won a Virgin Orbit contract to supply digital engineering solutions, signed an agreement with Sierra Space for in-space services, and announced Firefly Aerospace as a Moon lander to mission partner.
Overall, Redwire provides hardware and services for the space infrastructure, which is currently estimated to have a market of 15 billion US dollars.
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