FILE PHOTO: Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group, poses for a photograph on board of his new cruise liner, the Scarlet Lady at Dover Port in Dover, Britain, February 21, 2020. REUTERS/Simon Dawson
August 23, 2021
(Reuters) -Virgin Orbit, the small satellite launch service which is a part of billionaire Richard Branson’s conglomerate, said on Monday it is going public through a merger with a blank-check vehicle in a deal that values it at $3.2 billion.
The deal with NextGen Acquisition Corp. II also includes a private investment in public equity (PIPE) of $100 million, from parties such as Boeing Co and AE Industrial Partners.
Firefly, U.S.-New Zealand startup Rocket Lab, and Branson’s Virgin Orbit are seen as front-runners in a new breed of firms building miniaturized launch systems to cash in on the exponential growth of compact satellites, expected in the coming years.
Blank-check companies, also known as special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), use capital they raise through an initial public offering to merge with a private firm and take it public.
Virgin Orbit will list on the Nasdaq, post the closing of the merger, under the ticker symbol “VORB”.
(Reporting by Niket Nishant and Sanjana Shivdas in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
Source: One America News Network
