By Joey Roulette
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Richard Branson’s bankrupt satellite launch firm, Virgin Orbit, plans to sell the bulk of its Long Beach, California, headquarters to small-launch firm Rocket Lab USA Inc for $16 million, part of a roughly $36 million asset sale disclosed in a Tuesday court filing.
Rocket Lab, the seasoned small-rocket company whose headquarters is less than a mile away from Virgin Orbit’s, was the winning bidder for the bankrupt rocket company’s primary manufacturing site during an auction held on Monday.
The purchase agreement, which includes machinery and equipment that had been used to manufacture Virgin Orbit’s flagship LauncherOne rockets, is subject to the bankruptcy court’s approval during a hearing scheduled for Wednesday. Rocket Lab did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The company also plans to sell its aircraft assets, including the modified Boeing 747 “Cosmic Girl” carrier aircraft, to hypersonics firm Stratolaunch for $17 million, the filing said. Stratolaunch had been a designated stalking horse bidder for those assets earlier in May.
Virgin Orbit’s primary launch site in California’s Mojave Desert will be sold to rocket engine and spacecraft startup Launcher Inc. Vast Space, a space station firm backed by cryptocurrency billionaire Jed McCaleb that acquired Launcher earlier this year, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Virgin Orbit, founded by billionaire Branson to send small satellites into space, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April after the company struggled to secure long-term funding following a failed launch from Britain in January.
Virgin Orbit’s core business was sending small satellites into orbit using its LauncherOne rocket, which was launched from the modified Boeing Co 747 carrier aircraft named “Cosmic Girl.”
Earlier this month, Virgin Orbit said it had received more than 30 letters of interest from prospective bidders for its assets, a higher amount than the company expected, a person familiar with the process told Reuters at the time.
Tuesday’s filing said Virgin Orbit decided “not to continue the Auction” regarding the company’s inventory of LauncherOne rocket engines, the core of its launch business.
“No Successful Bidder or Next-Highest Bidder has been selected for such Assets at this time,” the filing said.
(Reporting by Joey Roulette in WashingtonEditing by Leslie Adler and Matthew Lewis)
