OHB raises more than 500 million euros and reorganizes its shareholding to accelerate its investments in space launchers.
The German satellite manufacturer OHB announced on Monday a capital increase of more than 500 million euros, combined with a partial exit from its second shareholder KKR, in order to finance its investments in space, particularly launchers. The Bremen-based family business is aiming for a better valuation on the stock market, at a time when the record introduction of SpaceX shares on Wall Street in mid-June showed investors’ appetite for the space sector.
OHB will issue up to 1.7 million new shares at a unit price of 300 euros, in order to raise up to 510.7 million euros, according to a press release. At the same time, the American investment fund KKR will sell up to 1.23 million shares and thus reduce its stake to around 20%, compared to 28.6% currently. The Fuchs family, majority shareholder of OHB, has waived its subscription rights but will not sell any shares, maintaining its stake at 65.4% of the capital. These two operations should bring the share of capital circulating on the stock market to 19.2%, in the event of exercise of the over-allotment option, compared to 5.7% currently.
Acceleration of investments in space launchers
According to the press release, OHB wants to “enable strong growth by continuing industrialization through significant investments” in production, particularly space launchers. Since 2018, the company has been developing a rocket to put small satellites into orbit, via the start-up RFA (Rocket Factory Augsburg), which it majority owns, with an inaugural flight delayed but still planned for this year. OHB is in the race against the German Isar Aerospace and French and Spanish competitors to establish itself on the European market for micro and mini-launchers.
Space is one of the main axes of the increase in military spending in Europe, which has been underway since the start of the war in Ukraine. OHB is taking advantage of this boom, having become known for its small satellites manufactured for the EU civil space programs Galileo (GPS type) and Copernicus (Earth observation).
