Redwire completes SPAC merger

LOMPOC, Calif. — Space technology company Redwire announced Sept. 2 that it closed its merger with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC), taking the company public and providing it with capital for future acquisitions.

Shareholders of Genesis Park Acquisition Corporation voted Sept. 1 to approve the merger with Redwire, with 97% of votes, representing 73% of outstanding shares, backing the deal. That vote was the final milestone to completing the deal, which formally closed Sept. 2.

The merger turns Redwire into a publicly traded company, which will start trading Sept. 3 on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol RDW with a pro forma enterprise valuation of $620 million.

“This is a thrilling day for our team,” Peter Cannito, chairman and chief executive of Redwire, said in a company statement. “As a public company in this second golden age of space, we will be in an even better position to deliver value to our customers’ missions, help to shape the commercialization of the new space economy and, ultimately, accelerate humanity’s expansion into space with our growing portfolio of breakout space infrastructure solutions.”

“We believe the company is well-positioned as a market leader with plentiful opportunities to drive value for shareholders,” Paul Hobby, chief executive of Genesis Park, the investment firm that established Genesis Park Acquisition Corporation, said in the statement.

The companies announced the SPAC deal in March, saying the deal would provide Redwire with $170 million in capital. The companies did not disclose the actual amount of capital Redwire received, which would be dependent on the number of Genesis Park shares that shareholders elected to redeem rather than keep in the merged company.

Private equity firm AE Industrial Partners created Redwire in June 2020 by combining two space technology companies, Adcole Space and Deep Space Systems, it had acquired. Redwire has since gone on to acquire several more companies, including in-space manufacturing company Made In Space, structures companies LoadPath and Roccor, engineering firm Oakman Aerospace and Deployable Space Systems, a developer of spacecraft structures and solar arrays.

Those combined diverse capabilities will be applied in several strategic focus areas the company has identified, such as on-orbit servicing and manufacturing, digitally engineering spacecraft and space domain awareness and resiliency.

At the time of the merger, the company said the proceeds would be “dry powder” for future acquisitions. Redwire said it was already profitable, with revenue of $119 million and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) of $13 million in 2020. By 2025, the company expects to grow to $1.4 billion in revenue with an adjusted EBITDA of $250 million.

“We do have a number of opportunities that we are looking at” for future acquisitions that Redwire is considering, Cannito said in an analysts’ day presentation July 9. He declined to identify any specific potential deals, but said the company took a “strategic pause” in acquisitions while it completed the SPAC deal.

“Redwire is uniquely positioned as a first-mover industry consolidator,” he said in that presentation. “Space is a highly fragmented market and Redwire has been the buyer of choice, combining niche technology companies that provide tremendous flight heritage with new space startups with disruptive technologies.”

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