🚀 Astra To Go Private

🚀 Astra To Go Private

March 08, 2024

The Space Scoop

Week Ended 03.08.2024

Happy Friday! It was a trifecta week for space SPACs - one generated positive cashflow for the first time, one is being taken private after a -99% performance and one is potentially being acquired by a prime. Who am I talking about? Lets dive in.

Market Max-Q

Top Stories

1) Terran Orbital ($LLAP) adopted a limited duration stockholder rights plan following Friday's buyout bid from Lockheed Martin ($LMT).

  • On Monday morning, following Friday's buyout bid, an independent committee of the Board of Directors noted they will determine the course of action that is in the best interest of all stockholders "which intends to enable all stockholders to realize the full value of their investment in Terran Orbital."

  • Terran CEO Marc Bell told CNBC it is “looking at everything” regarding the company’s future. “We found out when the rest of the world found out about it,” Bell continued.

  • “We’ve had many conversations with many people and continue to run our process. We have no deadline to our process, and our goal is to have maximum value for all of our shareholders,” Bell said.

  • Terran is also “thrilled with the validation” that Lockheed’s (28.3% owner) offer gave.

  • Shares finished the week +11.2% higher but since it's SPAC IPO in March 2022, Terran shares are down about -87%.

2) Astra ($ASTR) is officially leaving public markets and going private. 

  • Last week, Astra CEO and CTO revised their take private offer at $1.50 per share from November 2023 to $0.50 per share.

  • This week the Special Committee of Board of Directors unanimously approved the deal "taking into account Astra’s current liquidity situation" and "determined that the proposed transaction is in the best interests of Astra."

  • No additional stockholder approval is required and the transaction is expected to close in Q2 of 2024.

  • What a ride it's been from a $2 billion IPO valuation to $13M as of Friday close. Shares closed the week -57% and since inception are -95% since $10 SPAC price. See below for the historical trading history of ASTR.

3) Spire ($SPIR) reported FY'2023 earnings and achieved positive cash flow from operations for the first time. Highlights include:

  • Cash & Equivalents: $41M

  • Revenue: $106M, +32% YoY

  • Net Loss: $(64)M vs. $(89)M

  • Adj. EBITDA: $(11) vs. $(33)M

  • Shares: +9.0%

In Other News

Iridium Acquires Satelles for $115M 

$IRDM acquired the remaining 80% stake it did not own of the secure satellite-based time and location services provider. Satelles will become a new business line of Iridium, led by Satelles CEO who will report to the Iridium CEO. The acquisition in the next few weeks.

Kurs Orbital Raises $4M Seed 

The Italian-based startup focused on supplying in-orbit docking technology will use the capital to accelerate development and commercialization of its interface module, ARCap. The funding round was led by OTB Ventures, with participation from Credo Ventures, Galaxia, In-Q-Tel and Inovo.

Sidus Raises $7.9M Public Offering 

$SIDU offered 1.321M shares of common stock at an offering price of $6.00 per share for gross proceeds $7.926M. The Company intends to use the proceeds from the offering for working capital and general corporate purposes.

Momentus Raises $4M Direct Offering 

The $MNTS registered direct offering priced at-the-market was completed with a single institutional investor for the purchase of 4,624,280 shares of common stock at a purchase price of $0.865 per share for gross proceeds ~$4.0M.

Chart of the Week

Astra Stock Performance: In its three-year public market history, $ASTR has left investors holding the bag. Lets see what the founders can do with the company back in their hands privately. 

Links

• MDA ($MDA) To Be Added to S&P/TSX Composite Index• BlackSky ($BKSY) Wins Multi-Million Dollar Contract in Support of U.S. Dept of Defense Moving Target Study• Terran Orbital ($LLAP) Awarded $15.2M Contract From the U.S. Space Force• Momentus ($MNTS) Awarded 5-Year NASA IDIQ Contract To Provide Flight and Payload Integration Services• Planet ($PL) Awarded Contract for Vessel Detection and Monitoring by NIWC Pacific• Terran Orbital ($LLAP) Awarded up to $45M IDIQ by NASA To Support Space Technology Advancement• Viasat ($VSAT) and Rocket Lab ($RKLB) Partner To Showcase On-Demand, Low-Latency Data Relay Services for LEO Satellites• Planet ($PL) Adds to Its Planetary Variable Product Suite With Automated Field Boundary Detection

Opinion

• Rocket Lab ($RKLB): Under Pressure Because It Is Competitive, Not Because It Is Incapable• Space Stock Review – February 2024• Understanding How Venture Capital Is Used To Create Vulnerabilities in the Supply Chain• The Limits of Space Power

Earnings Calendar

• $LUNR: Mar 21 - Before Market Open• $LLAP: Mar 26 - Before Market Open• $PL: Mar 28 - After Market Close

*Company confirmed dates only.