Taking on a United States stock ticker will make Canada’s largest space technology company more accessible to American investors and put it in a strong position to pursue acquisitions in the U.S. and Europe, the company’s chief executive said.
MDA Space Ltd. made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Thursday with a US$300 million initial public offering (IPO), trading under the symbol “MDA.” The Brampton, Ont.-based company specializes in satellite systems, space robotics and geo-intelligence.
MDA Space chief executive Mike Greenley told the Financial Post having shares listed on both the NYSE and the Toronto Stock Exchange can be used as “currency” for future acquisitions and allows the company to tap into “space-intensive” U.S. investors.
“In the United States, there are groups of investors that have a deeper knowledge and appreciation for the space market because there are more space companies,” Greenley said in an interview, after ringing the NYSE opening bell to celebrate his company’s listing.
The offering is expected to close on or about March 16. Greenley said proceeds from the IPO will be used to pay off about $100 million in debt. This is expected to leave the company with “a couple hundred million in the bank account.” He said MDA Space will be in a strong position to consider foreign acquisitions, which would allow it to bid on government contracts.
“For us eventually to have ‘MDA Space USA’ and ‘MDA Space Europe’ and be able to open up the government pipelines in those regions for us, that would be something to consider and something that we do pay attention to as we look for potential acquisition targets,” he said.
Greenley said all the company’s business lines would be relevant to American and European markets, but a satellite manufacturer would make the most sense for an acquisition.
“That way you’ve already got an established capability to build spacecraft and space grade systems and test them and deliver them, and that would be probably the strongest foundation for us to work from,” he said.
In MDA Space’s fourth quarter earnings call on March 4, Greenley said the company has identified $40 billion in cumulative opportunities over the next five years.
He said those include commercial low Earth orbit satellite constellations, government constellations, earth observation satellites, space observation satellites and commercial opportunities for space-grade robotics.
