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Paul, Weiss is representing IonQ, a leading commercial quantum computing and networking company, on its acquisition of Capella Space Corporation, a signals platform leader for top-secret government and commercial applications.

The acquisition is intended to facilitate IonQ’s development of a global space-to-space and space-to-ground satellite quantum key distribution (QKD) network. QKD is a secure method for exchanging encryption keys to ensure that they can’t be intercepted or copied without detection. These keys can then be used to encrypt and decrypt messages. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2025, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.

The Paul, Weiss team is led by corporate partners Rob Kindler and Chelsea Darnell, and included partners Timothy Cruickshank, Brian Kim and Patricia Vaz de Almeida and counsel Nathan Mitchell and Lyudmila Bondarenko; executive compensation partner Jean McLoughlin and counsel Meghan Fox; litigation partners John Carlin, Andre Bouchard and Geoffrey Chepiga and counsel Audrey Paquet; intellectual property partner Jonathan Ashtor and counsel Matthew Rosenberg; tax partner Brian Krause; real estate partner Peter Fisch; and antitrust partners Yuni Sobel and Ross Ferguson and counsel Chad de Souza.