The initiative will leverage the solid financial backing of Aabar and the pioneering technology and strong global relationships of Virgin Galactic.'
'This exciting deal is indicative of the interesting and high value investments that mark the UAE's commercial portfolio,' he added.
The buy-in is expected to give Branson's space tourism venture a big financial boost at a time of global recession. It will also give Aabar Investments a chance to build its own space flight industry and broaden its business beyond the oil sector.
The new joint venture also proposes to undertake additional development which would enable the space system to launch small satellites at unprecedented levels of cost, reliability and flexibility.
Aabar, which has emerged as one of Abu Dhabi's most active investment funds, had bought 9.1 percent of equities of Mercedes-Benz maker Daimler in March this year.
It also bought earlier this month four percent of shares in San Carlos, California-based electric car producer Tesla Motors.