Gavin/Solmonese won M&A Advisor’s Industrials Deal of the Year award in recognition of its work on the sale of Masten Space Systems to Astrobotic Technology. Gavin/Solmonese collected the recognition at M&A Advisor‘s 17th Annual Turnaround Awards.
Gavin/Solmonese, which served as chief restructuring officer and asset sale advisor for Masten, shared the award with other partners engaged in the sale, including Morris James (counsel for Masten); Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton and Cozen O’Connor (counsel to the official committee of unsecured creditors); Whiteford, Taylor & Preston (counsel for Astrobotic, the purchaser), and Arent Fox (counsel for SpaceX). The group was recognized at a black-tie event during the M&A Advisor Distressed Investing Summit in Palm Beach, FL, on March 22.
“A transaction like this can only happen one way: with strong collaboration from start to finish and an unwavering commitment to creating value for stakeholders, which is exactly what we had,” Ted Gavin, CTP, NCPM, managing director of Gavin/Solmonese, said. “It was an honor for us to work with such a respected group of business partners who each brought unique areas of expertise to the table, respected each other’s specialties and knew exactly how to best integrate our resources. We worked impeccably to not only create the pathway to value and facilitate a successful sale, but to do so in a way that supported the needs of both companies and Astrobotic’s long-term vision.”
Gavin/Solmonese was brought in to support Masten Space in its bankruptcy filing. Gavin/Solmonese — which was initially retained as advisor, then as chief restructuring officer, as well as an investment banker — advised against a Chapter 7 case and helped Masten Space file for Chapter 11.
The sale to Astrobotic, a Pittsburgh-based developer of space robotics technology for lunar and planetary missions, came as Masten ran out of money. During the turnaround of the company, Masten briefly halted operations to find novel asset strategies that could form the basis of a sale and allow for resumed operations. The sale was facilitated through Masten’s Chapter 11 filing, which was done to preserve the value of Masten’s contracts, intellectual property and employee base. At the 11th hour, Astrobotic agreed to provide Masten with necessary debtor-in-possession financing to allow the bankruptcy case to move forward. It also acquired the company and most employees, assumed aerospace contracts in order to allow programs to continue and retained many vendors, with the sale generating enough value to provide for a distribution to Masten’s unsecured creditors.
