Billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit Holdings is close to a deal for a $200 million investment from Texas-based venture capital investor Matthew Brown.
The capital injection for the cash-strapped aerospace company would come in the form of a private share placement, according to a term sheet seen by Reuters.
The company saw its market capitalization slump to a record low of $150 million on Tuesday from more than $3 billion two years ago when it went public through a blank-check deal.
Virgin Orbit paused all operations and furloughed most employees earlier this month, about two months after the aerospace company suffered a mid-flight rocket failure while trying to send several satellites into space.
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FOX Business has reached out to Virgin Orbit for comment.
Virgin Orbit had received about $35 million of capital injections from Branson’s Virgin Investments in recent months and is exploring strategic options. It was also in talks for fresh funding.
The deal involving Virgin Orbit and Matthew Brown reportedly could be completed by Friday, according to the term sheet, but is not binding.
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Virgin Orbit’s board agreed to move forward with the deal at a meeting held on Tuesday, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Under the deal, Matthew Brown will be entitled to convert his $200 million investment in Virgin Orbit’s preferred shares into common shares at the volume weighted average price in the 30 days before the deal is signed.
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Virgin Investments is currently the largest shareholder with a stake of nearly 75%.
In the meantime, Virgin Orbit plans to recall a small team from the furlough on Thursday to work on rocket upgrades.
Reuters contributed to this report.
