Case studies
Case studies
Ad Astra Capital was incorporated in December 2025. Its own engagements are listed first. The other cases are the track record of our principals before that date, shown for professional purposes; for each, the entity or capacity in which the work was performed is stated: Avicon Partnership (UK, from 2009) and its successor Avicon Consulting Ltd (UK, from 2025), DronSystems Ltd (UK, 2015 to 2022), or an executive role. Counterparties are named where they have agreed or where the record is public; references are available to prospective clients on request.
Ad Astra Capital (2025 to date)
HyImpulse Japan localisation programme (2025 to date). Japan business-development representation of HyImpulse Technologies GmbH under a 2025 consulting agreement (concluded by Avicon Consulting Ltd and assigned to Ad Astra Capital on its incorporation): technical discussions with Japanese heavy-industry, materials and electronics suppliers on structures, payload fairing and flight-termination systems; dialogue with Japanese industrial groups and institutions on participation; consortium and programme design; public-programme mapping; launch-site options.
Current work (2026): proposals to act as arranger and adviser, in the coordination sense defined at the foot of this page, are under consideration for an airport MRO programme in Southeast Asia and for a national carrier's widebody fleet programme in Central Asia.
Principals' track record: space and launch
UK Space Agency-funded SHARP programme (Sustainable Hybrid: Accelerated Rocket Programme), HyImpulse UK (2024 to 2026). Partner in the National Space Innovation Programme project led by HyImpulse UK with Cranfield University and the University of Birmingham, announced by the UK Space Agency on 21 July 2024; consultancy support from the funded application through to completion under a fixed-value contract, fully invoiced and paid. Performed through Avicon Partnership and, from 2025, Avicon Consulting Ltd.
Sea Launch Company reorganisation (2009 to 2013). Adviser, through Avicon Partnership, on the Chapter 11 reorganisation of the international commercial launch-services company (claims of about US$2.4 billion), recognised as Cross-Border Deal of the Year at The M&A Advisor Turnaround Awards 2011, whose winners list names Avicon among the deal team; then Executive Vice President, Business Development of the reorganised company, 2010 to 2013 (executive role).
Principals' track record: unmanned aircraft and airspace
EuroDRONE, the SESAR Joint Undertaking's U-space testbed in Greece (2018 to 2020), through DronSystems Ltd. Demonstrations in the Patras and Missolonghi region in July and October 2019 of highly automated drone operations, including medical deliveries beyond visual line of sight coordinated with air traffic control; coordinated by the University of Patras with Cranfield University, the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority, Hellenic Post, Romanian Post, Aslogic and DronSystems, with EUR 1.4 million of EU co-financing. The testbed's traffic-management architecture was built on DronSystems' DroNav system, co-developed by our principal; the results were published in Drones (MDPI) in February 2022 with our principal as co-author.
FAA UAS Identification and Tracking Aviation Rulemaking Committee (2017). DronSystems Ltd was one of the 74 member organisations of the committee chartered by the FAA in May 2017 to recommend how unmanned aircraft should be identified and tracked, with our principal as its named representative; the committee delivered its final report later that year. In 2021 DronSystems and Intermap Technologies announced a collaboration to integrate geospatial data into DronSystems' automated traffic-management platform for a proof of concept in Dubai.
Principals' track record: export credit and infrastructure
Export-credit structuring for an airport concession bid, Central Asia (2025). Financing architecture for a JBIC-linked facility of about JPY 15 billion, Japanese-content analysis and agency pre-consultation strategy, as mandated arranger in a client-side advisory and coordination capacity, through Avicon Consulting Ltd; the concession was later awarded to another bidder.
DISCLAIMER
Ad Astra Capital K.K. is a strategic consultancy and business-matching firm. We are not a registered financial instruments business operator, investment adviser or bank in Japan or the United States. We do not hold client funds or securities; we do not buy, sell, broker or solicit investment in securities; we do not handle public or private offerings; and we do not provide legal or tax advice. Where a transaction involves securities, including SPAC mergers and capital raising, the economic terms are negotiated by the principals and the transaction is executed by licensed institutions in the relevant jurisdiction.
Where we describe ourselves as arrangers, we mean the client-side programme and transaction coordinator: we organise the process, prepare the analysis and coordinate meetings between the client and the relevant institutions. We do not negotiate loan terms, conclude financing contracts, lend or intermediate loans.
