Airspan to return to private life through bankruptcy

Wireless networking equipment vendor Airspan said it reached an agreement with most of its creditors to become a private company again through the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process.

The company said the transaction – which it hopes to close in the next month or so – will give it up to $95 million in new equity financing, and will eliminate its existing funded debt.

"This support agreement is the culmination of a strategic review process, and we believe it is the best path forward for Airspan to continue providing exceptional services and products to our customers worldwide," Airspan CEO Glenn Laxdal said in a statement. "By strengthening the Company financially with new capital and a debt-free balance sheet, we will be better positioned to execute our plan to capitalize on the significant growth opportunities across our public and private network markets."

The move doesn't come as a surprise. As Light Reading reported in January, an executive familiar with Airspan's operations said the company would reveal a new financial and strategic plan sometime in the first half of 2024.

Laxdal said Airspan continues to see opportunities in 5G, open RAN, private networks and air-to-ground connectivity products, such as the one Airspan is supplying to Gogo.

However, Airspan's position today is a far cry from where the company was in 2021, when it went public via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) called New Beginnings Acquisition Corp. Airpsan's stock trades under the ticker symbol "MIMO." Airspan was an early supporter of MIMO technology in its radios.

But Airspan's third quarter 2023 revenues clocked in at just $14 million. That's down from the $39 million the company reported during the same period in 2021 after its initial public offering.

A return to privacy

Airspan this week said its Chapter 11 plan includes support from 97.4% of its funded debt creditors. Among those is Fortress Investment Group, which has been backing Airspan since the beginning of last year.

"We are excited about the company's long-term growth opportunities. Our significant commitments through this agreement reflect our conviction that a recapitalized Airspan can further solidify its leadership position within the wireless industry. We look forward to continuing to support the company's talented management team throughout this process and in the future," Drew McKnight, co-CEO of Fortress, said in a statement.

Airspan said it will operate its business "without disruption through this process, safeguarding its commitment to employees, customers and suppliers." The company added that Fortress will provide $53 million in debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing. That, combined with Airspan's current cash holdings, "is expected to provide sufficient capital during the restructuring process to support Airspan's operations," according to Airspan.

Airspan supplies wireless networking equipment to a handful of big, public wireless operators around the world including Gogo and Charter Communications in the US, Reliance Jio in India, and Rakuten in Japan. The company is also hoping to build a business around private wireless networks, primarily via inbuilding networks designed to plug coverage holes.

But many of those opportunities haven't yet played out. For example, Charter hasn't yet embarked on a widespread buildout of its planned 5G network. And Gogo's 5G network has suffered through a long series of delays. Private wireless networking too hasn't matured as quickly as some had hoped.

Perhaps most importantly, the open RAN opportunity – a core element in Airspan's IPO – hasn't boosted smaller vendors. Instead, bigger companies like Samsung and Ericsson have managed to capture most of the market's big open RAN opportunities.