TAMPA, Fla. — CEA Space Partners I Corp, a blank check company led by satellite industry veteran Edward Horowitz, plans to raise $250 million in a public stock offering to buy a space business.
The special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC), part of a growing trend in the space industry, said it has the backing of private equity firm Navigation Capital and investment bank CEA Group.
They have made commitments to provide CEA Space Partners I Corp with capital and other resources to help source a potential acquisition.
“While we may pursue an acquisition opportunity in any industry or sector, we intend to focus our search on companies within the space economy and adjacent verticals with enterprise values of at least $1 billion,” the SPAC said in an SEC filing.
“This may include but are not limited to satellite equipment and components, satellite communications services, earth observation technology, satellite launch technology, data collection tools and analytics, space logistics, robotics, and related services.”
Navigation Capital also invested in another SPAC called Holicity, Inc., which announced a merger in February with satellite launch startup Astra.
Horowitz, CEA Space Partners I Corp’s chief executive and co-chairman, is best known in the space industry for being the former president and CEO of SES Americom, the satellite operator that ultimately merged into Luxembourg-based SES.
He is currently a board member of the First Responders Network Authority, an independent body within the U.S. Dept. of Commerce that operates a nationwide broadband network for first responders. His term expires August 2021.
“We see the space economy at an inflexion point driven by technological innovation, the acceleration in privatization, continuing reductions in launch costs, and increase in capital funding as key factors which we believe will serve as catalysts for future growth,” the SPAC stated in its S-1 filing, an initial SEC registration form that companies based in the US have to submit before going public.
The filing also outlined the potential to use its initial acquisition as a platform for buying more assets, where revenue synergies and operational leverage could be gained “due to the fragmentation within the space economy.”
CEA Space Partners I Corp is based in Tampa, Florida.
