Seraphim Space Investment Trust, a closed-ended investment company which invests in a diversified international portfolio of early and growth-stage Space Tech businesses, has acquired the holding of Spire Global (Spire) from the Seraphim Space LP (Seraphim Space Fund).
As set out in the IPO prospectus, following its IPO Seraphim Space will acquire four assets from the Seraphim Space Fund for newly issued ordinary shares in the Company. This acquisition represents the first of those transactions to complete.
Spire is one of the leading pioneers of the nano-satellite market with over 100 satellites operational today, creating one of the world’s largest multi-purpose satellite constellations, which it uses to source hard to acquire, valuable data and enriches it with predictive solutions. Key markets include global weather forecasting, maritime and aviation. Spire recently successfully listed on the New York Stock Exchange through a merger with NavSight Holdings Inc (NYSE: SPIR).
In accordance with the relevant sale and purchase agreement entered into at the time of the IPO, the Company has acquired for cash 1,105,520 shares in Spire valued at USD10.2 million and the partners of the Seraphim Space Fund have used all of this cash to subscribe for 7,418,890 new ordinary shares in the Company at a price of 100p per share. These new ordinary shares rank pari passu with the existing ordinary shares in issue. The valuation is based on the volume-weighted average price per share for the interests owned by the Seraphim Space Fund in Spire for the five days trading from and including the date of Spire’s listing.
As a result of this issue, the total number of ordinary shares in issue now stands at 185,833,452 and the total number of voting rights in the Company is 185,833,452. There are no shares held in treasury.
The above figure of 185,833,452 may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculation by which they may determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or change to their interest in, the Company under the FCA’s Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.
Applications have been made to the Financial Conduct Authority (the FCA) and the London Stock Exchange (the “LSE”) for the admission of 7,418,890 new ordinary shares to the premium listing segment of the Official List of the FCA and to trading on the main market for listed securities of the LSE. Admission is expected to take place at 8:00 am on Friday, 10 September 2021.
Mark Boggett, CEO of Seraphim Space (Manager) LLP, the Company’s investment manager, commented:
“We are very proud to be part of the Spire success story, a company we first backed in January 2017 through their Series B bridge round and then every subsequent equity round through to their USD1.2 billion merger, which was facilitated by Seraphim. Our conviction remains strong for this business, especially as the USD265m gross proceeds raised by Spire will allow it to further accelerate the growth of its category-defining business”.
Will Whitehorn, Chair of Seraphim Space, says: “Spire is disrupting the USD14 billion weather data and forecasting market which is vital in the fight against climate change-induced extreme weather events. It is a superb example of how Seraphim Space is backing the category leaders who are collectively building the new digital infrastructure in the sky, delivering capability that will help us address global scale challenges”.
