TOKYO – Astroscale, a Japanese company focusing on cleaning up space junk, is planning to go public on the Tokyo stock market possibly as soon as June, according to some insiders. The company, which has been around for 11 years, has been chatting with big-time investors from around the world to see if they’re interested before they decide to go for it.
The company’s got some big names like Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities and Mizuho Securities helping them out with the plans. Astroscale’s big idea is to clean up space by getting rid of old satellites and rocket parts that could crash into each other up there. They’ve got support from governments in Japan, the US, and the UK for their space cleaning tech.
They thought about becoming a public company last year but decided to wait because they couldn’t agree on how much the company’s worth. They might delay again, depending on what the investors they’re talking to think.
Astroscale is also working on tech to make satellites last longer and is looking at another space company, ispace, that went public and is now valued at around $450 million, to get an idea of what they might be worth. But getting in touch with Astroscale for a comment didn’t work out, and the banks helping them didn’t want to talk about it either.
Why It’s a Big Deal
Japan’s government is really pushing for space to be a big thing, hoping to double the space industry’s value to about $53 billion soon. They’re supporting not just the big companies but also smaller startups like Astroscale.
Following the lead of ispace and another company called iQPS, which saw its stock price shoot up after going public, Astroscale’s move could get a lot of attention from regular folks who want to invest in space companies. Space is getting a lot of hype because of government support, says analyst Kazumi Tanaka.
But, figuring out how much money these space startups might make is tricky, and some big investors are a bit wary because space can be a risky business. There have been some accidents, like the explosion of the Kairos rocket and ispace’s moon mission not going as planned, which makes investors nervous about putting their money in these companies for the long haul.
Despite the ups and downs, ispace is still pushing ahead with big plans, including a mission for NASA. They’re confident about their business and the goals they’ve set out to achieve.
