I stand to be corrected, but the 49% rule is only there for reasons of cabotage.
A US company can buy out an EU company in other industries, but in aviation, it is impossible because under the open skies deal a US airline cannot fly internal EU flights or flights starting in the EU and going to anywhere other than the U.S. If all VA flights start in the EU and go exclusively to US, what is there to stop a takeover?
This is quite clearly the way VA is being reorganised. Get all flights to run London-US, take over, shut down unnecessary London offices, make all UK staff redundant, replace with US pilots, cabin crew and engineers.