Seraphim Space Investment Trust (SSIT) announced a 1.4% increase in the total value of early-stage space investments in its publicly traded trust, reaching 201 million pounds ($257 million). This growth occurred despite a setback from Astroscale's discounted initial public offering (IPO).
Astroscale, a Japanese debris removal venture, went public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on June 5, selling shares at approximately 40% less than during a private financing round late last year. SSIT noted this discount resulted in a reduction of the valuation of its interest in Astroscale by nearly four million pounds. However, this venture's less-than-5% stake still represents only 2.6% of the total value of the trust's investment portfolio.
SSIT also marked down the value of its interest in AST SpaceMobile, a direct-to-smartphone satellite developer, by 1.2 million pounds due to share price declines in the first three months of the year. However, AST SpaceMobile's shares rebounded after announcing a commercial arrangement with U.S. telco AT&T, currently up more than 92% from the start of the year.
“Although the issue price of Astroscale's IPO was somewhat disappointing, it did enable Astroscale to achieve a heavily oversubscribed IPO,” said Seraphim Space CEO Mark Boggett.
Boggett also noted that Astroscale's shares rose after their debut, bringing the trust's holding in the firm close to its previous implied fair value. Astroscale's stock, which started trading at 850 yen ($5.46) per share, closed at 1,375 yen on June 5 but dropped to 1,101 yen the next day.
Despite the IPO setback, Boggett expressed optimism about the public markets' appetite for space-related companies, which he believes bodes well for other portfolio companies considering their own public offerings in the future.
Astroscale is the fourth SSIT investment to go public since the trust's IPO in July 2021. SSIT highlighted D-Orbit's $110 million funding round in January and Xona Space Systems' $19 million raise last month as key drivers of its overall fair value gain.
SSIT reported that about 72% of its portfolio by fair value is funded for at least 12 months, with 61% fully funded. In April, SSIT sold its stakes in all nine companies it had invested in since going public to Seraphim Space Ventures II, a new $100 million fund focused on very early-stage businesses.
Will Whitehorn, SSIT's chair, expressed confidence in the trust's cash reserves and the prospects for its portfolio in 2024. “We remain increasingly positive about the prospects for the portfolio in 2024, and we are satisfied that SSIT continues to have the cash reserves required to meet the anticipated funding needs of the portfolio for the year ahead and beyond,” he said.