pompanoJ t1_jdazvd4 wrote on March 23, 2023 at 2:23 AM

Reply to comment by kittyrocket in Virgin Orbit raising $200 million from investor Matthew Brown, closing deal as soon as Thursday by cnbc_official

I was thinking the same thing. Hard to see a path to getting your $200 million back.

JPhonical t1_jdb1xas wrote on March 23, 2023 at 2:39 AM

The valuation for the deal is $200 million - a 'controlling interest' only costs half that at most depending on how you define 'controlling' - do they mean a majority of shares or a majority of board seats.

But your main point stands - unless they find a new market (maybe defense?) it's going to be difficult and may require developing the top launched Launcher Two.

pompanoJ t1_jdb5qtv wrote on March 23, 2023 at 3:09 AM

From CNBC

amounting to an injection of $200 million.

This means they are raising $200 million, not that the valuation is $200 million.

JPhonical t1_jdbl39e wrote on March 23, 2023 at 5:42 AM

That's interesting... the market cap is only $200 million so that would involve close to a total buyout that would have them delisted (unless the investor is paying a massive premium over the market - not impossible, but unlikely IMHO).

Surely that would require shareholder approval, but this deal is meant to be done very fast to prevent the company falling apart as all the staff get jobs elsewhere.

I guess we don't yet have enough of the puzzle pieces to figure out what's going on yet - we'll have to wait for a formal announcement.

kittyrocket t1_jdb3ruf wrote on March 23, 2023 at 2:53 AM

Hm, maybe they’re going to let him ride it. That seems very Texan sort of thing to do.