Rocket Lab buys Mynaric

Rocket Lab said on April 14 it completed its acquisition of German laser-communications maker Mynaric, bringing a key satellite networking supplier in-house. (financialcontent.com) The final price was $155.3 million, paid with a nominal cash amount and 2,277,002 Rocket Lab shares. Rocket Lab said Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy cleared the deal before closing. (financialcontent.com) Rocket Lab first disclosed the plan on March 11, 2025, when it said it expected an initial purchase price of about $75 million and tied the deal to Mynaric’s court-supervised restructuring in Germany. A September 25, 2025 stock purchase agreement then set up Rocket Lab’s purchase of all outstanding Mynaric shares from the lenders that took control through that process. (rocketlabcorp.com) (sec.gov) Laser communication terminals are the space version of fiber links: they let satellites pass data to each other with tightly aimed beams instead of radio signals. Rocket Lab said those parts had become a supply bottleneck for both commercial constellations and government networks. (financialcontent.com) (rocketlabcorp.com) The timing is tied to Rocket Lab’s own defense work. The company said Mynaric already supplies CONDOR Mk3 terminals for Rocket Lab’s $1.3 billion prime contracts to build 36 satellites for the Space Development Agency’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture. (financialcontent.com) Mynaric brought demand, but also manufacturing trouble. In June 2024, the company reported backlog of 794 optical terminals at the end of 2023 and 829 by June 20, 2024; in August 2024, it cut full-year revenue guidance to 16 million to 24 million euros from 50 million to 70 million euros because of slower production yields and component shortages. (mynaric.com 1) (mynaric.com 2) Rocket Lab has made similar bets before. It said in 2025 that laser links were not available in high volumes at affordable prices, and in February 2026 it bought Optical Support, Inc., another optics supplier, as it expanded its national-security payload business. (rocketlabcorp.com 1) (rocketlabcorp.com 2) The deal also gives Rocket Lab its first permanent base in Europe. Rocket Lab said Mynaric will stay headquartered in Munich, which it described as a foothold for serving German and wider European space programs. (financialcontent.com) (rocketlabcorp.com) Rocket Lab’s pitch is straightforward: buy the supplier, fix the production bottleneck, and use those laser links across its own spacecraft programs as constellation orders grow. (financialcontent.com) (rocketlabcorp.com)