Space company Redwire begins trading NYSE after closing SPAC deal

Space infrastructure conglomerate Redwire began trading on the New York Stock Exchange Friday, joining a flurry of space companies closing SPAC mergers and going public.

“We are really doing our best to get the message above the wider SPAC sound that we are an income positive, cash flow positive, very financially conservative and fast growing company,” Chairman and CEO Peter Cannito told CNBC.

Redwire, founded last year by private equity firm AE Industrial Partners, merged with special acquisition firm Genesis Park and now trades under the ticker RDW.

Shares of Redwire were up 16.6%, closing the first day of trading at $12.24.

Redwire is the sixth space company to sign a SPAC deal and go public this year, after AST & Science, Astra, Spire Global, Momentus and Rocket Lab. Several more aerospace companies are expected to go public by the end of the year, with deals in progress by BlackSky, Satellogic and Planet.

Cannito stressed that the merger with a SPAC was “just a convenient IPO mechanism” for Redwire, with the benefit of a whopping $170 million in cash from the deal. The merger values ​​Redwire at $675 million in equity.

Redwire, which has spent much of the past 12 months acquiring and integrating seven aerospace companies into one, plans to use that money to continue “creative mergers and acquisitions” and to build “a few more along the way.” internal investments,” Cannito said.

“We have a very exciting pipeline of opportunities that we are looking at right now,” Cannito said.

He also emphasized that Redwire is “uniquely positioned from an investment perspective” as it is a pure leeway stock that generates more than $100 million in annual revenue and has positive cash flow. Cannito referred to the ARKX Space ETF, created by Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest, as debuting without many “options that could go in.”

“We are giving investors the opportunity to invest in the future of the space with the company that is in a conservative financial position and therefore has the power to stay in it for the long term,” Cannito said.

Redwire’s vision is to provide the “people who live and work in space” with the tools and manufacturing needed to grow the economy in space and beyond, Cannito said.

Redwire has five strategic focus areas: space commercialization, digitally engineered spacecraft, services and manufacturing in orbit, advanced sensors and components, and space domain awareness.

The company has reached a number of milestones since announcing its intention to merge and go public.

The company’s iROSA solar panels were supplied by SpaceX to the International Space Station. Redwire also sent a new 3D printer into space to demonstrate production using materials from the lunar surface, won a Virgin Orbit contract to provide digital engineering solutions, signed an agreement with Sierra Space for in-space services and announced Firefly Aerospace as a lunar lander mission partner.

Overall, Redwire provides space infrastructure hardware and services, which it estimates is currently a $15 billion market.