Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic to go public by year-end

(Reuters) - British billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic plans a stock market listing by the end of the year, giving it the much-needed funds to take on Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin and Elon Musk's SpaceX in the race to space.

The company will list its shares as part of a merger with Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings Corp, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), which will also take a 49% stake in Virgin Galactic for about $800 million, a source who worked on the deal told Reuters.

The SPAC deal allows Virgin Galactic to go public sooner, compared with a traditional initial public offering, which the company might have considered in six to nine months following its first commercial flight, the source said.