Originally Posted by
Section28- BE
Indeed....., 'Mick'.
The Australian is running today, a story titled:
Behind the 'Rupert Wall'....
rgds
S28
Save of the century: Virgin Australia to fly again
By ROBYN IRONSIDE, AVIATION WRITER
Virgin Australia chief executive Paul Scurrah has predicted the airline’s rescue will go down as “one of the greatest achievements in corporate history”, after creditors overwhelmingly backed the sale to Bain Capital.
An impressive 99 per cent voted in favour of the $3.5bn sale by deed of company arrangement to Bain, with a majority of all stakeholder groups, including bondholders, backing the deal. The result followed an intensive 4½ months of administration, following the appointment of Deloitte in April when Virgin Australia ran out of options.
With $6.8bn owing to more than 10,000 creditors and the pandemic devastating aviation, Mr Scurrah conceded things were not looking good.
“A lot of people had written us off,” he told The Australian.
But there was no shortage of interest from buyers, which Deloitte’s team, led by Vaughan Strawbridge, quickly whittled down to one.
“I’m proud of Vaughan and his team for the way they’d gone about this. I think history will talk about this as one of the greatest achievements in corporate history and deservedly so,” Mr Scurrah said.
“I’m also really grateful to Bain because they have shown enormous courage here … to take on an airline that’s still in the midst of a pandemic is something to be admired.”
Mr Strawbridge said there was much work left to do but he planned to take the weekend off.
“There’s still a lot of restructuring work to be done, and the intent is to sign the DOCA by the end of this month and then go through the court application so we can complete the sale before end of October,” he said.
The court application was necessary to transfer all of the shares in Virgin Australia, which was still an ASX-listed company, to Bain Capital.
From there it was likely to become a private company wholly owned by Bain.
The firm’s Australian managing director, Mike Murphy, said the backing of creditors meant the rebuilding process could continue from the “strongest possible platform and with the least disruption”.
“We are working closely with Virgin management to build a stronger, more profitable and competitive Virgin Australia, and we look forward to the future with confidence,” Mr Murphy said.
Bain has made it clear it would be appointing its own “experienced, high quality board”, which is expected to include former Jetstar CEO Jayne Hrdlicka.
The Virgin brand will be retained, and founder Richard Branson said he was excited to create the next chapter of Virgin Australia together with Bain and the airline’s team.
“It has been a massive effort by the administrator, Bain, Paul Scurrah and the airline’s management team to get this far in the face of the global travel crisis,” Sir Richard said.
“With the deal agreed we will focus on building our airline back up even better than it was before.”
Unions also welcomed the outcome of the creditors meeting, and said credit should go to the workers who had shown “strength and perseverance in the face of terrible adversity”.
“Since the airline announced it was going into administration on April 21, the unions representing Virgin workers have fought hard to ensure that every cent of workers’ entitlements are protected, that there is a long-term, viable future for the airline, and that the maximum number of jobs are saved,” ACTU national president Michele O’Neil said.
“We send our support and solidarity to every Virgin worker who is making the hard decision to take voluntary redundancies.”
Under Bain, Virgin Australia’s workforce will be cut by a third, from 9000 to 6000, and the fleet initially reduced to between 30 and 60 Boeing 737s.
Transport Workers Union national secretary Michael Kaine warned it would be holding Bain Capital to its promises.
He said they included “resuming as a fuller capacity airline, maximising jobs, retaining regional operation Vara, tiered cabin classes, airport lounges and the airline’s international arm”.
Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack also welcomed confirmation of the sale, reiterating that a “market-led solution” was always the government’s preference for Virgin.
“The government recognises the efforts of the administrator and the constructive engagement that we have had with them throughout this process via Nicholas Moore,” he said.
Transport Workers Union national secretary Michael Kaine warned it would be holding Bain Capital to its promises. He said they included “resuming as a fuller capacity airline, maximising jobs, retaining regional operation Vara, tiered cabin classes, airport lounges and the airline’s international arm”.
Mr Kaine either missed the memo on international and the ATRs or he's taking delusionalism to a new high.