Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala as well as SoftBank, the Japanese technology giant, are in talks to back a UK government-led bid for OneWeb, the collapsed satellite operator.
The two investors have been holding talks with government officials about contributing hundreds of millions of pounds to a newly comprised shareholders group, according to Sky News.
Rival bidders for OneWeb are said to include Telesat while there have also been unconfirmed suggestions of Chinese and Russian interest.
OneWeb filed for bankruptcy in March in the US, where most of its operations are located, after failing to secure new funding. It has 74 satellites.
OneWeb, which initially attracted backing from investors including Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and Airbus, struggled to gain momentum and has so far only launched just over 10% of the 648 Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites promised as part of its inaugural constellation.
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