This morning, Kongsberg Defense and Aerospace, a Norwegian technology company, announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire a majority stake in NanoAvionics. The deal values the Lithuanian smallsat manufacturer at €65M ($67M).
The terms: Kongsberg is taking a 77% stake in the company. The company’s leadership will remain unchanged for now, with CEO Vytenis Buzas and CCO Linas Sargautis, the company’s cofounders, staying in their roles.
Midland, TX-based AST SpaceMobile ($ASTS) purchased a 51% stake in the company in 2018, and will now sell its shares. In an SEC filing, the company reported that it expects €27M ($28M) for its stake.
The big deal: Kongsberg emphasized how well NanoAvionics’ tech will work with its own offerings. Kongsberg owns and operates the KSAT (Kongsberg Satellite Services) network of ground stations. It also provides satellite subsystems.
- It seems like a pretty logical jump to acquire a company building the actual satellite hardware.
“Norway is a leader in the domain of maritime surveillance in the high north,” Eirik Lie, Kongsberg president, said in a press release. “NanoAvionics, along with our existing space portfolio and the development of the Andøya Space Port, means Norway now has leading positions across the entire value chain.”
