Odey and Elliott ‘among City titans to invest in hypersonic jet firm’
City heavyweights including Crispin Odey are said to have thrown their financial might behind an Oxfordshire-based firm which hopes to one day transport passengers from London to New York in an hour.
The hedge fund tycoon Odey and US activist investor Elliott Advisors are among firms which have poured £100m into Reaction Engines, signalling their belief it will become a world leader in aviation and space travel.
Reaction Engines is building a high-tech jet engine which it hopes will one day hit speeds of 3,800mph.
The firm is trying to push the aviation industry towards hypersonic planes which go into space, cutting flight times significantly.
Currently, it takes about eight hours to get from London to New York – a figure Reaction hopes it can whittle down to one.
The company has also received £60m from the government, as well as millions from private investors.
This comes despite losses ballooning from £5.2m in 2017 to £16.8m last year, according to accounts filed last week.
Losses like this make the company reliant on outside funding to survive until it becomes profitable.
Odey was unavailable for comment.
The news was first reported by the Mail on Sunday.
Activist hedge fund Elliott, which owns bookstore chain Waterstones, has taken a stake of eight per cent.
This makes it one of the biggest investors in Reaction, behind defence industry giant BAE Systems, which took a 20 per cent stake in 2015 for £20.6m.
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