Virgin Orbit sets ‘stalking horse’ asset sale
May 18, 2023
By Chris Forrester
Virgin Orbit, operating in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, has entered into a ‘stalking horse’ agreement with Stratolaunch. A Stalking Horse agreement is a starting point for a bid and which other interested parties must exceed if they want to make an offer for the assets of a company.
Virgin Orbit, in a filing to its bankruptcy court, said the Stratolaunch bid does not prevent other bids being made.
Specifically, Stratolaunch is offering to buy Virgin Orbit’s aircraft assets for $17 million (€15.7m) including ‘Cosmic Girl’, the converted Boeing 747 which is used to carry the launch rocket.
Virgin Orbit said the bankruptcy marketing process has also generated considerable interest in its assets other than its Boeing jey. The deadline to submit bids for its assets is 16.00 GMT on May 19th.