Space infrastructure firm finds partner to take it public

Redwire, the space infrastructure company backed by AE Industrial Partners, is merging with a blank check firm to become publicly-traded amid continued hot investor and customer interest in space.

Redwire, the space infrastructure company backed by AE Industrial Partners, has agreed to a transaction that will take it to the public markets nearly one year after the official unveiling.

Redwire said Thursday it will merge with a special purpose acquisition company Genesis Park Acquisition Corp. in a deal all parties expect to close by the end of the second quarter.

After that, Redwire will become the latest space company to be publicly-traded with the help of a SPAC, or blank check firm, and in this instance list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange. Many other space outfits have done the same in the past six months, including a pair of Northern Virginia-headquartered companies in Blacksky and Spire.

AE Industrial Partners is the private equity firm that created Redwire in the summer of last year and will retain a significant amount of shares in the company after the merger completes.

Jacksonville, Florida-headquartered Redwire has since been one of the space market’s busiest buyers since AEI combined two other businesses to form the company as it is today.

The company reported $119 million in revenue last year on $13 million in adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization).

Redwire has gone on to acquire four more businesses with AEI’s backing: in-space manufacturing outfit Made In Space, structure makers LoadPath and Roccor, engineering firm Oakman Aerospace, and most recently spacecraft and array developer Deployable Space Systems.

“Space is still a fragmented market. Because of our unique approach to consolidating world-class space businesses that require a larger platform to achieve breakout results and larger impact,” Redwire CEO Pete Cannito said in a conference call with investors Thursday morning.

Cannito will continue as chief executive, while Andrew Rush is chief operating officer and Bill Read is chief financial officer.

An accompanying investor presentation to explain Redwire’s SPAC deal lists five key focus areas of its strategy: on-orbit servicing and assembly, low Earth orbit commercialization, digital engineering of spacecraft, space domain awareness and advanced sensors and components.

Within those areas are how commercial and commercial customers are involved in a new space economy where both interest and investment dollars continue to rise.

Take for instance how Redwire sized up today’s total space infrastructure market as around $420 billion with $47 billion of that from U.S. government spending alone by defense and civilian agencies.

“Growth is coming from commercial sector players who are providing increased data communications and remote sensing applications from large commercial satellite constellations,” Cannito said.

“Additionally, there is growing demand for more resilient architectures in the national security sector using proliferated small satellites in low earth orbit, and the public’s renewed interest in human space exploration is driving tremendous growth in the civil sector.”

For this year, Redwire expects to post revenue of $163 million on $20 million in adjusted EBITDA. That sales forecast suggests 86 percent government and 14 percent commercial.

If all goes according to plan, Redwire sees its sales hitting $1.4 billion by 2025 on adjusted EBITDA of $250 million. That envisioned top line would be split 59 percent government and 41 percent commercial.

By merging with GNPK, Redwire is seeking a pro forma enterprise valuation of $615 million and will get approximately $170 million in cash on its balance sheet.

That initial cash infusion will go toward internal investments such as research-and-development and capital expenditures to support organic growth. Further acquisitions are also very much on the table for Redwire.

Genesis Park Acquisition Corp., or GNPK, undertook its own initial public offering in November of last year and has since been looking for another aerospace and aviation services company to merge with and take public.

The deal is supported by a $100 million oversubscribed PIPE investment fund that lets certain early investors buy the publicly-traded stock at a price below the current value per share.

Senvest Management, Crescent Park and a number of other significant long-term investors are involved in the PIPE that will add up to 15 percent of ownership in Redwire. Current shareholders will own 55 percent of Redwire, GNPK’s shareholders will own 24 percent and GNPK itself will own 6 percent.

Jefferies is serving as financial adviser and Kirkland and Ellis LLP is serving as legal counsel to Redwire.

Genesis Park has lined up Greenhill and KPMG as financial advisers, Jefferies as the sole placement agent for the PIPE and capital markets adviser, and Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP and Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP as legal counsel.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.