Mentioned:
Rocket Lab has just raised nearly two billion dollars in fresh funding. And they’re planning to use it to fund their pending acquisition of a major global satellite communications company.
What’s happening:
- Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB) has successfully raised $1.9B USD through an At-The-Market equity program
By the numbers:
- Rocket Lab’s At-The-Market program issued roughly 29.3M new common shares
Why it matters:
- The new capital raise combined with Rocket Lab’s existing cash position will fully finance the cash portion of Rocket Lab’s acquisition of Iridium Communications (NASDAQ: IRDM)
Going deeper:
- Rocket Lab made major waves when they entered into a deal to acquire Iridium Communications and publicly stated they are planning to get into the global satellite communications business
- Iridium Communications has 66 satellites that are providing continuous low-Earth-orbit coverage for mobile voice and data services and roughly 2.54M subscribers
The intrigue:
- Rocket Lab has been continuing to lock down more government deals lately, including notably winning a $266M USD contract from the United States Space Force to execute 12 suborbital launches as part of the Space System Command’s Rocket Systems Launch Program
