MelbourneFlyer

Virgin Australia administrators Deloitte confirm 20 buyers are now circling Virgin Australia, adding "we remain confident that our target of achieving a sale by the end of June is achievable.”

https://www.executivetraveller.com/n...uality-bidders

Buster Hyman

Turned into a brochure at the end but, that's what they're trying to do I guess.

exfocx

BREAKING NEWS: Administrator (of any business) talks up number of potential buyers, uses online industry rag, I mean mag to do so!

MelbourneFlyer

I don't reckon Deloitte needs any website's help in selling Virgin Australia, especially not if rumours of Twiggy Forrest, Wesfarmers and Macquarie Bank are true!

DanV2

There were also rumour reports in the papers that Temasek directly was also interested in talking to BGH about a joint bid for VA Mk2.

At this stage it's only a rumour and that 'VA Mk 2' (as co-owner with BGH) would operate alongside SQ/SIA as 'Sister Companies' under the Temasek umbrella, as opposed to the old 'SQ/SIA takes over VA' line that's been trotted out over the past five years.

Probably the first time that it's been reported that Temasek directly may be interested (rather than their "child" SQ/SIA).

https://www.smh.com.au/business/comp...28-p54ny9.html

deja vu

yeah, what an opportunity to make a small fortune, ...............just as long as you start with a huge fortune!

longjohn

Money talks..... Bull**** walks!

In 2002 not 1, but 2 billionaires walked away from resurrecting Ansett because their deal was contingent on Government $$ which Mr Dixon at QF made sure never came.

So far, word on the street is that any serious buyers are looking for Government cash first.

Whether that is real or not remains to be seen.

no doubt Alan will want a similar deal for QF or JQ, as should Scott at Alliance.

long way to go I’d say before we get anywhere near hearing a fat lady

JPJP

The accompanying article regarding Velocity really made me wonder WTF Virgin Oz management were doing.

• In 2014 they borrowed $150 Mil from Velocity.

• in 2014 they sold 35% of Velocity for $335 Mil.

• Virgin Oz lost $350 Mil that same year.

• They then bought back the same 35% of Velocity for $700 Mil, five years later. From the same group they’d sold it to originally.

• They never paid back the original $150 Mil loan from Velocity.

machtuk

Will be interesting to see how any new buyer will make it work especially when VA where going down the toilet fast pre CV19, is someone going to wave a magic wand post CV19 and everyone will live happily ever after? This ought to be good! -)

Sunfish

“20 Buyers”? Most of them will be tire kickers and idiotic “entrepreneurs” who have no money. If I was Deloittes, I would spend a few days right now on weeding out this group or prepare to waste months in discussions of gorgeous possibilities that eventually go nowhere.

The BS normally starts with : ”I represent a Saudi Prince / Chinese Billionaire / Asian Company / American venture capital group that wishes to buy your airline but the name must be kept secret and everything must be in strictest confidence”.

I hope there is at least one genuine buyer for the whole airline.

mates rates

One thing A new Virgin Australia will need is a guarantee from Government that they will give it 50% of the government work.Not allow Qantas to have the majority of the Government warrants because the fat cats and politicians want their Qantas club and free red wine.

Beer Baron

I don’t know much about how administration typically works out so this is just a question for others.

Would having considerable interest in buying VAH (20+ parties) actually work against the company that emerges for a couple of reasons?
1) Presumably the successful candidate is the one that pays the most. So if all the interest bids the price up then the new owner will be holding more debt themselves once they restart the company.
2) When you demonstrate there are numerous interested parties, some with very deep pockets, doesn’t it become clear that the government has no need to provide any support. Obviously all parties will put their hand out but it’s hard to see how Temasek, etc. could actually NEED the support, it would just lower their risk and increase their return.

TCAS v2

Yep - Look at Fox and Lew with Ansett. They were real serious until the terminal deal with SACL didn't go their way. The airline was incidental to the real commercial grab.

This time round, it is no different. Nothing is what it seems.

Lookleft

Thats assuming a new Virgin Australia will still be a full service airline. Most government contracts specify that business class is available. It also assumes that its network will be as comprehensive as QF. I think the policy is still that public servants must use the airline with the best fare of the day but if one airline has a more convenient schedule then thats the airline that will get the booking.

itsnotthatbloodyhard

I’m sure it’d be nice for it to have half the government contracts, but if it’s a much smaller outfit should it really be entitled to the same amount?

TBM-Legend

Really! QF was three times the size of VA with a vastly bigger network. Since when does a public institution have an obligation to split business 50/50 because the airline requirements are tendered not just handed out.

MelbourneFlyer

I don't think the Government should get in to this degree of meddling in the market, especially not if Virgin is not competitive against Qantas in terms of schedules and product. This is why I think the likes of Twiggy and Wesfarmers and Macquarie Bank could be useful as owners, they could make it company policy that all their staff travel is on Virgin as first preference and there's got to be a very very good reason to fly Qantas. That would divert a huge amount of travel rom Qantas to Virgin.

junior.VH-LFA

That's ridiculous as it is let alone trying to apply it to a LCC Virgin 2.0 on likely limited routes.

DanV2

While SIA/SQ's parent Temasek may be rumoured to be interested in a partnership with BGH Capital for Virgin Australia. However, Singapore Airlines (SQ) has ruled out further investment/involvment in Virgin Australia for the foreseeable future. SQ will commit to investing in their Vistara (India) investment, which provides a greater return to the SIA group.

One questions if some of that $13B that Singapore Airlines raised from parent company Temasek may be put aside towards their Vistara (India) investment, which is SQ's only overseas investment at this time.

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/willhor.../#19c7eb2823b4

Paragraph377

That’s a really good point. I recall Virgin setting up lounges and a half business class and then whinging that most Government business went to Qantas. Qantas used to compete with Ansett for Government contracts and Ansett offered a better premium service. Virgin just wanted to waltz in and say ‘hey, give us half’. Typical self righteous lazy attitude of the day. Qantas had worked long and hard to get those contracts and then meet the requirements and expectations of the airline. Virgin just wanted that work to land in their laps. Typical of their method of riding others coattails. Now now before all the VA acolytes have a hissy fit, in recent years VA did work harder to get some of those contracts but they were still not satisfied and wanted more, but without offering the QF drippings (which are ****e today by yesteryear standards).