Vertical Aerospace Hires Jefferies to Review Strategic Options as NYSE Warns Its Shares Fell Below $1
Why It MattersThe warning shows how thin the funding runway has become for pre-certification electric air taxi developers, whose valuations have fallen far below their SPAC-era levels while certification timelines keep slipping.
Vertical Aerospace, developer of the Valo electric air taxi, has hired the investment bank Jefferies and announced a review of strategic alternatives. The company said in September that it has set no timetable and cannot guarantee any outcome. On September 9 the New York Stock Exchange notified Vertical that it did not meet Section 802.01C of the NYSE Listed Company Manual, which requires a listed share to average at least one dollar over 30 trading days. The company has six months to cure the breach by closing at $1 or more on the last trading day of a month within that window, with its 30-day average also back above $1. Shares have recently traded near 40 cents, valuing the company at about $70 million.
In August the company raised about $100 million from three sources: $40 million from Mudrick Capital Management through convertible notes (a $5 million draw followed by a planned $35 million accelerated draw), $35 million from an underwritten sale of units, each pairing one share with one warrant, priced at $1.05, and $25 million from a preferred share issue.
Vertical went public in December 2021 by merging with the blank check company Broadstone Acquisition Corp in a deal valuing it at about $2.2 billion, with pre-orders from American Airlines and Virgin Atlantic. Its market value has since fallen by roughly 97 percent. The Valo, with a pilot and four passenger seats at launch and a cabin that can take six, was unveiled in London in December 2025 as the successor to the VX4 prototype. Vertical had planned seven certification aircraft; its type certification target has moved from 2028 to 2029.
