Zenno Astronautics has signed an agreement with Japanese conglomerate All Nippon Airways Trading to deploy its superconducting technologies for space applications in the Japan market.
ANA Trading is a member of ANA Group, Japan’s leading airline group, which has adopted the slogan ‘Next Stop, Space’. Zenno announced last November it had received seed funding from ANA and Mitsubishi Electric.
Under the terms of the agreement, ANA Trading will “create business opportunities in Japan for Zenno that contribute to the Japanese space industry...
“In the future, the partnership will collaborate to bring an exciting roadmap of other technologies to the market, opening up new possibilities and increasing the competitiveness of the Japanese space industry.”
Zenno co-founder and CEO Max Arshavsky said the collaboration would accelerate the company’s growth in the Japanese market and support its vision to “build for life in space”.
NZX-listed aged care provider Promisia Healthcare has saved itself $800,000 after refinancing its debts to repaying a vendor loan early.
The vendor loan related to the acquisition of Aldwin’s House in Christchurch in 2022 for $13m.
The $3.82m debt was due to mature in March 2027 but, with the early repayment, the company was only required to pay $3m.
It settled the debt through a new $3m loan facility it secured from BNZ Bank. The loan has a three-year term and is fixed at 6.8% for the two years.
The new deal reduces the company’s weighted average interest rate to 7.5%, a 150-basis point reduction since March, 2024 and extended its average debt maturing to 2.1 years, compared with 1.1 years.
“This transaction, alongside the various other refinancing with BNZ over the last 12 months, is a testament of the strong relationship Promisia has built with BNZ, as well as the group’s ability to create a platform to deliver on our strategic growth ambitions,” the company said.