Shareholder revolt looms at VA
This just in: Appears Etihad have someone in mind to buy some of their shares AND become the mover in a bid to replace J.B. with John Thomas (who was boned last year). And thus effect CHANGES.
From The Australian:
Virgin Australia is expected to face an investor revolt led by a new activist shareholder who could emerge with the aim of installing a former executive as the airline’s new boss. Etihad’s relatively new chief financial officer, Mark Powers, was reportedly in Australia last week to hold meetings ahead of a decision by the airline to sell down a chunk of its stock. Dealmakers thought a transaction would have occurred by now and expect it could happen imminently.
DataRoom understands former Virgin executive John Thomas could be put forward as chief executive by a new activist investor with the backing of most of the airline’s current investors. On the current registry, Etihad holds nearly 21 per cent, followed by Singapore Airlines with 20.03 per cent, China’s Nanshan Group which holds 20.02 per cent and HNA Group with 19.85 per cent. The airline’s founder, Richard Branson, retains 10.02 per cent. The future of Etihad’s stake has been under question for the past few months after the airline flagged that its investment with Virgin was not in line with the strategy put in place by chief executive Peter Baumgartner. Abu Dhabi’s Etihad has recently been reviewing its strategy. The carrier made a $US1.87 billion net loss for the 2016 financial year, including taking a hit from poor performances by Italy’s Alitalia and Germany’s Air Berlin, which is no longer flying. It’s expected that an activist investor could take a 5 per cent stake in the airline and then start lobbying for major board and management changes.
The new investor would be likely to gain the support of the Singapore group, Etihad and Branson. The trio is understood to be keen for change to be implemented at the airline. The outlook from the Chinese investors is believed to be difficult to judge and their opinion on the prospect for change has been tough to gauge by onlookers.
Given John Borghetti has flagged that he will leave Virgin in 2020, its expected that putting a new chief executive in place earlier would be made a priority. The proposition for Thomas to return to Virgin is understood to be supported by the company’s major shareholders after his brief stint, which ended last year. At the time, Thomas was running Virgin’s domestic and international businesses and was considered the second in charge. However, he lasted just a year before he left in June. Virgin said at the time that Thomas was not the “right fit’’ but he is believed to have the backing of the shareholders. For the half*year to December 31, Virgin made a statutory after*tax profit of $4.4m and the net loss attributable to owners was $10.3m. On the carrier’s preferred measure, underlying profit, it had its best result in a decade at $102.5m.
Last edited by juliusg; 22nd Jun 2018 at 02:10.