spacetoday.net: Virgin Galactic to go public in merger with investment company

Posted: Sat, Jul 13, 2019, 8:01 PM ET (0001 GMT)
SpaceShipTwo on 2019 February 22 test flight (Virgin Galactic)

Virgin Galactic announced a deal early Tuesday to merge with an investment company, raising several hundred million. Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings Corp. will take a 49 percent stake in Virgin Galactic in a deal that values the company at $1.5 billion. Social Capital Hedosophia is a so-called "special-purpose acquisition company" that is publicly traded and is established for the purpose of acquiring a privately held company. The deal would allow Virgin Galactic to become publicly traded as soon as later this year, as the company is finishing testing of its SpaceShipTwo suborbital vehicle. The deal would ensure the company has enough funding to get into commercial operations.