Redwire Space going public via a SPAC after year of acquisitions

Space infrastructure conglomerate Redwire Space is preparing to go public, announcing Thursday that it is the latest in a string of space firms to merge with a SPAC.

Redwire, formed last year by private equity firm AE Industrial Partners, is merging with special purpose acquisition company Genesis Park, which trades under the ticker GNPK. The deal is expected to close by the end of the second quarter, with the merger resulting in Redwire listing on the New York Stock Exchange.

A SPAC is essentially a shell company that raises money through an initial public offering to acquire another firm.

“When you look around the industry now, you have a lot of the older traditional space players and you have a lot of these new space entrants, many of them are pre-revenue,” Redwire Chairman and CEO Peter Cannito told CNBC.

“Redwire is kind of the hybrid: We’re offering that middle ground of tremendous flight heritage but also the disruptive technologies.”

The company is focused on space infrastructure, which it estimates is currently a $15 billion market.

Redwire’s collection of firms includes technologies such as navigation sensors, solar arrays, deployable structure, in-space manufacturing and robotic arms.

The conglomerate expects to add about $170 million in cash to its balance sheet from the merger. This would include the proceeds from a $100 million PIPE — or private investment in public equity — round, joined by investors Senvest Management and Crescent Park.

The merger values Redwire at a $615 million enterprise valuation, according to the companies. Cannito noted that AE Industrial Partners will “stay significantly invested” following the merger, as its largest single shareholder.

Since AE formed Redwire last June, the company has been on a steady spree of acquisitions.

Redwire first acquired satellite component business Adcole Space and aerospace firm Deep Space Systems and then acquired Made In Space, a 3D-printing specialist.

The conglomerate also snapped up satellite technologies firm Roccor, engineering service LoadPath, modular spacecraft builder Oakman Aerospace and satellite mechanisms company Deployable Space Systems.

Altogether, according to Redwire, the combined management teams bring more than 50 years of space experience, with over 150 missions.

“We’ve taken a very differentiated approach to the market here by combining different companies with extraordinary flight heritage,” Cannito said.

These businesses are “used to being that premier mission partner to organizations that are deploying space-based capabilities,” he added, whether those partners are NASA, the Pentagon or others.

Redwire believes more deals may be ahead, Cannito said, noting that going public and “having that public equity as a currency significantly increases our attractiveness as an acquiring…