Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic to go public

A stake in Virgin Galactic will be sold to a shell company that already trades on the New York Stock Exchange, Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings, in a transaction that is expected to raise around $800m, a source close to the matter told Bloomberg.

The deal would involve U.S.-based Social Capital LP said the anonymous source and The Wall Street Journal reported earlier that Social Capital Hedosophia Corp. would buy a 49% stake.

According to market commentary, a so-called reverse takeover would allow Virgin Galactic to avoid an initial public offering that could be costly and selling all the shares could be challenging.

The company is one of the few founded by billionaires racing to send customers on space trips and the venture is nearing its first commercial flights, another person familiar with the matter said.

In December, Virgin Galactic launched a rocket plane into space for the first time and in February, a test flight carried a passenger for the first time.