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Orbex faces an uncertain future after failing to secure additional funding or complete a merger or acquisition.
Fusion negotiations with the Franco-German company The Exploration Company reportedly failed after Orbex lost financial backing from the British National Wealth Fund.
Orbex’s work on the Sutherland spaceport in Scotland, which Orbex had been carrying out, was halted in 2024.
Skyrora has expressed interest in acquiring the Sutherland spaceport construction project that Orbex had been managing.
Orbex will continue operating while it considers the full or partial sale of its assets.
The Exploration Company (TEC) began negotiating the acquisition of Orbex in December and those talks were frozen this week.
Orbex’s second major project was Proxima, a higher-capacity rocket whose viability is threatened by the lack of a rescue agreement.
The Proxima rocket was in the earliest stages of development when Orbex entered insolvency proceedings.
Skyrora proposed that the established operator could invest up to £10 million in an Orbex asset acquisition, subject to discussions with appointed administrators and completion of due diligence and legal processes.
Orbex paused construction of Sutherland Spaceport to free up resources for development of its Proxima medium-lift rocket.
Skyrora intends to explore the purchase of select Orbex assets, including Sutherland Spaceport.
Orbex CEO Phil Chambers posted on LinkedIn on 11 February that an administration process was running and invited bids for the company.
Orbex’s 11 February statement made no reference to The Exploration Company or to why the acquisition had fallen through.
Orbex filed a notice of its intention to appoint administrators and began insolvency proceedings on 11 February.
A spokesperson for The Exploration Company linked the failure of its planned acquisition of Orbex to the UK government’s decision not to approve the transaction.
Orbex pursued a sale because its Series D funding round failed to materialize at the scale the company had hoped.
The Exploration Company signed a letter of intent to purchase Orbex on 21 January.
Orbex appointed administrators as a first step toward closing the business due to insolvency.
Skyrora expressed interest in investing up to £10 million (€11.5 million) to buy select Orbex assets.
Orbex appointed administrators as a step toward closing the business due to insolvency and reportedly has debts as high as £49 million (€56.2 million).