The problem with voluntary Administration Ollie is that the board (ie the major share holders) have to agree to it. By agreeing to it you are essentially agreeing to reducing your equity value in the business to zero. So by agreeing to enter voluntary administration Etihad, Singapore, HNA, Nanshan and Branson have effectively agreed to walk away with nothing after pumping in excess of 6 Billion into the business over the years. So I doubt they’d agree that it’s such a great option! But they just don’t have the money Virgin needs as they’re all dealing with their own problems right now.
The reason it might work out well for Virgin right now is that the entire Aviation industry is hurting right now. So aircraft lessors, airport authorities, creditors etc will be much more willing to work with the administrators right now as they have no where else to go themselves. If times were good and aviation was booming it might be a very different story.
Not saying it’s going to be all skittles and rainbows for Virgin going thru this, as they now have no control over the outcome. It’s going to end up being whatever the administrators and future owners want it to be. That could well mean more redundancy’s or the businesses being broken up and sold off piecemeal.