Bain Capital wins! Lawyers locked up negotiating final terms
Sarah Thompson,
Anthony Macdonald and
Tim Boyd
Bain Capital is poised to sign a deal to buy Virgin Australia.
It is understood Bain's lawyers at Herbert Smith Freehills and administrator Deloitte's counsel at Clayton Utz were drafting final terms on Friday morning.
Sources said the two sides were locked up in Clayton Utz's office in Sydney and wouldn't come out until the deal was agreed.
The final negotiations between the parties' lawyers followed round-the-clock talks between Deloitte and Bain.
As Street Talk revealed on Thursday, Bain emerged as the lead contender after Deloitte met both bidders on Tuesday. Binding bids were lobbed on Monday.The deal will be put to Virgin's creditors for approval in August.
It comes after a two-month auction run by Deloitte, which has been advised by Morgan Stanley, Houlihan Lokey and Clayton Utz and was appointed Virgin's administrator in April.Deloitte shortlisted four parties to enter the second round of the auction in mid-May, including financial sponsors
Bain and
BGH Capital,
US aviation firm Indigo Partners and New York-based investor Cyrus Capital Partners.
But when the
third round rolled around in early June, it all came down to a battle between Bain and Cyrus.
Cyrus
released a statement on Friday morning announcing it had withdrawn its offer to acquire Virgin due to "a lack of engagement by the administrator".
Bain's bid has been led by local managing director Mike Murphy, alongside an engine room of advisers including Goldman Sachs, KordaMentha and Herbert Smith Freehills, as well as former Jetstar boss Jayne Hrdlicka.
The Boston-headquartered firm is expected to
finance its proposal from its buyout, credit and special situations funds.