CC, Freshfields, Cleary guide lift-off of European SpaceX challenger

Clifford Chance, Freshfields and Cleary are advising on the planned merger of the space divisions of Airbus, Thales and Leonardo, a deal set to create a new European heavyweight to rival Elon Musk's SpaceX.

The as-yet-unnamed company will be headquartered in Toulouse and operate through five national entities in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK, employing around 25,000 people across Europe.

The venture is projected to generate €6.5 billion in revenue and aims to be fully operational by 2027, subject to regulatory clearance.

Europe's SpaceX rival

Under the memorandum of understanding signed on 23 October, Airbus will take a 35% stake, while Leonardo and Thales will each own 32.5%. The company will be managed via a "balanced" governance structure, the companies said.

Reports suggest that Airbus will receive an up-front payment from its partners in return for limiting its stake to 35%, as its space business is set to account for around half of the group’s turnover.

The companies say the venture’s structure is modelled on that of MBDA, the European missile maker formed in 2001 through a merger of the missile divisions of Airbus, Leonardo and BAE Systems.

The new company aims to act as a globally competitive player, and could rival Elon Musk’s SpaceX - which owns the widely-used satellite broadband service Starlink and recently agreed to supply Nasa its Starship rockets for sending astronauts to the Moon in 2027.

Advising

Clifford Chance advised Airbus, led by partners Giles Lebreton and Marianne Pezant (Paris, corporate), Gareth Camp (London, corporate), Thomas Krecek (Frankfurt, corporate), Luis Alonso (Madrid, corporate) and Umberto Penco Salvi (Milan, energy and infrastructure).

In total, more than 150 lawyers from Clifford Chance’s offices in Paris, London, Germany, Spain and Italy worked on the deal, the firm said.

Freshfields acted for Leonardo, with a pan-European team coordinated by its Italian and French offices and led by partners Nicola Asti (Milan) and Guillemette Burgala (Paris).

Cleary represented Thales, with a team including Paris-based partners Pierre-Yves Chabert and Rodolphe Elineau (corporate/M&A), Frédéric de Bure (antitrust) and Anne-Sophie Coustel (tax) as well as Patrick Bock (antitrust) in Brussels and Gareth Kristensen (tech/IP) in London.