Last close As at 05/08/2026
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Research: Investment Companies
Capitalising on the strong performance in 2025 and growing investor interest in the spacetech theme, Seraphim Space Investment Trust (SSIT) announced on 27 April an equity raise through a placing and a retail offer via RetailBook of new C shares (subject to shareholder approval at the general meeting on 6 May 2026) to pursue further investment opportunities. The trust is a rare listed, pure-play spacetech vehicle, with a portfolio of 24 holdings, predominantly private growth-stage companies, all of which offer dual-use applications (over 70% of the portfolio is primarily focused on defence). Its portfolio is becoming increasingly mature; its top 10 holdings reported a fair-value-weighted average annual revenue growth rate of 79% and were held at an average gross multiple of invested capital of 2.3x at end-December 2025. We also note that SSIT’s manager expects more than 85% of its end-2025 portfolio by value to be EBITDA profitable in 2026.
| Exhibit 1: SSIT’s cumulative performance to end-December 2025 |
| Source: Company data. Note: Performance in sterling terms. |
Commercial space technology is gathering pace, driven by a massive decline in the cost of manufacturing and putting satellites into orbit. This is coupled with growing demand for earth observation from space in end-markets such as defence, climate change and insurance, with further demand drivers for spacetech services including connectivity and mobility. According to a report released by the World Economic Forum and McKinsey in 2024, the space economy is predicted to grow from $630bn in 2023 to $1.8tn by 2035.
SSIT is managed by Seraphim Space, a pioneer in spacetech investments that has built deep knowledge and deal origination networks and supported more than 140 companies across its fund management and accelerator activities. We believe that SSIT may benefit from growing investor interest in the spacetech sector, which is illustrated by the 48% y-o-y increase in private-market investments in spacetech companies to a record-high $12.4bn in 2025 (according to the Seraphim Space Index), as well as recent fund-raising activity across SSIT’s portfolio, including funding rounds of ICEYE, D-Orbit and Xona Space Systems and the potential IPO of HawkEye 360. We also note that Seraphim Space Ventures II, Seraphim’s early-stage venture fund, recently exceeded its previous target of $100m. A potential IPO of SpaceX would likely put the spacetech sector into the spotlight.
The C shares will be issued at 100p per share, forming a pool of capital separate to SSIT’s ordinary shares, and will be periodically converted into ordinary shares based on SSIT’s quarterly NAV. This limits the cash drag for holders of the ordinary shares while allowing new investors to gain exposure to SSIT at the trust’s prospective NAV rather than the secondary market price, which is currently at a c 46.5% premium to the end-December 2025 NAV of 142.3p (see Exhibit 2).
SSIT is seeking shareholder approval to issue up to 350m C shares, which implies an equity raise cap at £350m. SSIT’s deployment of capital raised in the issue into new and follow-on investments should help the trust build scale and, in turn, allow for a reduction in its ongoing charges ratio (1.77% in FY25) by spreading fixed costs over a larger asset base and by lowering the blended management fee, currently charged at 1.25% per year on NAV up to £300m and 1.00% per year above £300m. The company expects issuance costs of c 2%, which will be borne by the C shares.
The retail offer is expected to close at 12pm on 6 May 2026 and the placing closes at 12pm on 7 May 2026.
Between its IPO in July 2021 and end-December 2024, SSIT’s NAV total return (TR) was only marginally positive due to headwinds for growth equities from the interest rate normalisation that started in 2022. However, SSIT’s performance accelerated significantly in CY25, with an NAV TR of 40.8% in sterling terms.
The key contributor was ICEYE, which operates the world’s largest constellation of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites (70 launched to orbit to date) that allows for Earth observation in near real-time, on a 24/7 basis, irrespective of the weather (as SAR satellites can see through clouds and at night). This makes SAR satellites a valuable tool for a wide range of use cases, such as military applications, border monitoring, detecting suspicious maritime activities, climate observation, as well as providing natural disaster insights for governments and insurance companies.
ICEYE has secured a series of sovereign SAR satellite and data contracts with European and allied government customers, including Poland, Finland, the Netherlands, Greece and Portugal, with disclosed contract values for Poland and Finland alone amounting to c €358m. In December 2025, ICEYE established a joint venture with Rheinmetall, a German supplier of solutions in the security technology and mobility segments (Rheinmetall ICEYE Space Solutions), to strengthen Rheinmetall’s activities in the space sector through large-scale satellite production in Germany. Rheinmetall ICEYE Space Solutions has already received a €1.7bn gross contract (with an extension option) to supply space-based reconnaissance data to the German Armed Forces. In early 2026, ICEYE announced a further sovereign SAR systems contract with Sweden.
ICEYE’s 2025 highlights include over €250m in revenue, more than €100m in EBITDA and cash in excess of €350m. ICEYE closed a €150m Series E funding round in December 2025 (coupled with a €50m secondary placement) led by General Catalyst, valuing the business at €2.4bn. The fair value of SSIT’s stake in ICEYE increased by 151% y-o-y to £131.6m (or 3.3x investment cost) at end-December 2025, making it by far SSIT’s largest holding, representing c 39% of NAV.
Further notable drivers of SSIT’s strong recent performance were:
SSIT recently announced that HawkEye 360 is progressing towards an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange and submitted an amended S-1 form, according to which the expected IPO price range is $24–26 per share. The mid-point of this range implies a valuation of SSIT’s stake in the company of $60.8m or c £45m (at the current £/$ spot rate), which represents a c 32.5% uplift to its end-2025 carrying value. This in turn would represent an uplift versus SSIT’s end-December 2025 NAV of 4.66p or 3.3%. HawkEye 360 seeks to potentially raise c $400m at a post-money valuation of $2.76bn through the offering. SSIT’s holding in HawkEye 360 will be subject to a six-month lock-up following the IPO.
Moreover, Xona Space Systems (one of SSIT’s other top 10 holdings, representing 3.1% of end-December 2025 NAV) completed an oversubscribed $170m Series C funding round that led to a 167% increase in the fair value of SSIT’s stake, the equivalent of a 7.37p (or 5.2%) uplift in SSIT’s NAV per share. SSIT highlights that the company aims to become world’s first small satellite GPS constellation delivering centimetre-level accuracy and enhanced security.
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Research: TMT
Omantel is a leading integrated telecom operator in Oman with a strategic regional footprint through its stake in Zain, combining a stable domestic telecom base with exposure to broader MENA markets. The investment case is increasingly centred on its transition towards a more diversified digital infrastructure and technology platform, driven by the scaling of ICT and international wholesale capacity. This shift is evident in our estimates, with growth increasingly supported by ICT and wholesale, albeit with near-term margin and cash flow dilution as these businesses scale. The current Middle East conflict elevates risk in the short and medium term, although Oman will be the least affected of the GCC countries, in our view. Key catalysts include continued execution in wholesale and subsea capacity, and scaling of ICT and digital services.