Paris, 14 June 2021. –Virgin Orbit is close to merging with a SPAC, valuing Richard Branson’s company at $3 billion, Sky News reported.
Virgin Orbit is close to finalising a deal to combine with NextGen Acquisition II, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) set up by George Mattson, a former Goldman Sachs banker, Sky News reported.
A deal valuing Virgin Orbit at approximately $3bn “could be announced in the coming weeks, according to insiders”, Sky News said.
Branson’s Virgin Group owns 80% of Virgin Orbit; the remaining 20% are owned by Mubadala, Abu Dhabi’s sovereign investment fund.
Branson had closed a SPAC deal, in 2019, for his space tourism company Virgin Galactic and merged it with Social Capital Hedosophia, Sky News said, “in a deal which heralded the ongoing deluge of so-called ‘blank cheque’ companies”.
