Another private company in the space industry will soon be traded publicly. Redwire will soon merge with the Genesis Park Acquisition (GNPK) special purpose acquisition company to bring the space infrastructure company to the New York Stock Exchange.
Redwire was formed only last year by private equity firm AE Industrial Partners (AEI), which specializes in aerospace, defense, and specialty industrial markets. AEI created Redwire by combining spacecraft component maker Adcole Space with space-systems engineering company Deep Space Systems. Redwire's "heritage + innovation" slogan touts its mix of experience in the industry with innovation to help develop next-generation space infrastructure. The merger deal gives Redwire an enterprise value of $615 million.
Orion satellite. Image source: Redwire.
Other specialties under the Redwire umbrella include 3D additive printing/manufacturing, and robotic assembly in space. The company provides supplies and services to commercial clients and government agencies for the global space economy, which it predicts will be more than a $2 trillion market by 2040.
The rapid growth comes from "the influx of private capital, new public sector space initiatives, and decreased launch costs" in the space industry, Redwire CEO Peter Cannito said in a statement.
The SPAC merger will bring $170 million in cash proceeds to Redwire, which it says will help it with opportunities to continue to consolidate "a fragmented space infrastructure market."
Redwire had $119 million in estimated 2020 revenue. The company expects that to grow to $163 million in 2021, and explode to over $1.4 billion in 2025 mostly due to the acceleration in commercial space activity.