20 buyers now circling Virgin Australia
Im not sure if any of the QF/ JQ doomsdayers on here Have actually considered the fact that VA could actually come out of administration and in the process become a smaller but butter business. It’s not Deloitte’s first rodeo...
Meanwhile Joyce would rather borrow against 787’s than work with the industry as a whole to get some decent government assistance so all carriers got though this with as little damage as possible..... cutting off your nose to to spite your face ?
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I guess that's why the QLD GOV and unions prefer Cyrus!
Final bids lodged for Virgin Australia
Glenda Korporaal
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Robyn Ironside
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Damon Kitney
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Bain Capital plans to give Virgin Australia staff that remain with the business after a major restructuring equity in the business and has committed to fully funding the entitlements of those that will be made redundant if it is named the preferred bidder by the administrator Deloitte next week.
The revelation came as Bain and rival Cyrus Capital lodged final bids for the airline with administrator Vaughan Strawbridge from Deloitte, after news had earlier emerged that Cyrus had struck a deal with the Queensland Investment Corporation to keep Virgin’s headquarters in Brisbane.
The Australian understands the Bain bid will offer an extensive employee share plan to the Virgin staff that remain when the business transitions to private ownership, while it will also provide resources and support programs for those that are let go.
Bain final bid for the airline, bid lodged with administrator Deloitte on Monday, also noted that all existing travel credits, purchased directly and through travel agents, would be honoured.
Mr Strawbridge won federal support for the conditional travel credits plan last month instead of offering those that had purchased tickets with refunds.
The Bain bid also stated there will be no change to Virgin’s frequent flyer program, Velocity, including the current point balances of members and the pricing architecture.
Bain is looking to better align Virgin with the Velocity brand, including having a common phone app and website.
On Monday afternoon Cyrus gave a further commitment to the Australian Federation of Travel Agents to protect an estimated $100m worth of prepaid Virgin Australia tickets bought through member agents.
In a letter to AFTA chair Tom Manwaring, Cyrus senior adviser Jonathan Peachey said “consumer and agent confidence in Virgin Australia was of paramount importance” to the company.
“Cyrus acknowledges the important role that agents play in the travel and tourism industry, and we appreciate the faith that agents have placed in Virgin Australia during recent months,” Mr Peachey said.
“I am pleased to confirm without hesitation that if Cyrus becomes the new owner of Virgin Australia, tickets booked and paid will be honoured so that customers can take their flights with the airline.”
Mr Peachey also promised Cyrus would protect and honour Velocity points held by the loyalty program’s 10 million members.
Final bids lodged for Virgin Australia
Glenda Korporaal
Associate Editor (Business)
@GlendaKorporaal
Robyn Ironside
Aviation Writer
@ironsider
Damon Kitney
Victorian Business Editor
@DamonKitney
Bain Capital plans to give Virgin Australia staff that remain with the business after a major restructuring equity in the business and has committed to fully funding the entitlements of those that will be made redundant if it is named the preferred bidder by the administrator Deloitte next week.
The revelation came as Bain and rival Cyrus Capital lodged final bids for the airline with administrator Vaughan Strawbridge from Deloitte, after news had earlier emerged that Cyrus had struck a deal with the Queensland Investment Corporation to keep Virgin’s headquarters in Brisbane.
The Australian understands the Bain bid will offer an extensive employee share plan to the Virgin staff that remain when the business transitions to private ownership, while it will also provide resources and support programs for those that are let go.
Bain final bid for the airline, bid lodged with administrator Deloitte on Monday, also noted that all existing travel credits, purchased directly and through travel agents, would be honoured.
Mr Strawbridge won federal support for the conditional travel credits plan last month instead of offering those that had purchased tickets with refunds.
The Bain bid also stated there will be no change to Virgin’s frequent flyer program, Velocity, including the current point balances of members and the pricing architecture.
Bain is looking to better align Virgin with the Velocity brand, including having a common phone app and website.
On Monday afternoon Cyrus gave a further commitment to the Australian Federation of Travel Agents to protect an estimated $100m worth of prepaid Virgin Australia tickets bought through member agents.
In a letter to AFTA chair Tom Manwaring, Cyrus senior adviser Jonathan Peachey said “consumer and agent confidence in Virgin Australia was of paramount importance” to the company.
“Cyrus acknowledges the important role that agents play in the travel and tourism industry, and we appreciate the faith that agents have placed in Virgin Australia during recent months,” Mr Peachey said.
“I am pleased to confirm without hesitation that if Cyrus becomes the new owner of Virgin Australia, tickets booked and paid will be honoured so that customers can take their flights with the airline.”
Mr Peachey also promised Cyrus would protect and honour Velocity points held by the loyalty program’s 10 million members.
ALAEA chief Steve Purvinas says his union is "unequivocally behind Cyrus", see https://www.airlineratings.com/news/...virgin-rescue/
Cyrus has really only had two outings in the airline sector. The first was with Virgin America - ironically, a decidedly non-union enterprise. Their certification took years largely due to ALPA objections. Once VX managed to be certified only Spirit paid their crews less. It may have just been happenstance but VX was sold to AS within a year of it becoming unionised.
Then there's Cyrus's involvement with Flybe (the still-born Virgin Connect). The Connect consortium (40 percent Cyrus) bought Flybe in February 2019. By December it was apparent that there was a bit of a cash flow problem - the airline couldn't remit over £100 million in air passenger duty, money that they had already collected from passengers at the time of booking but which didn't need to be remitted until the time of travel. That rang some loud alarm bells. It was fairly clear that airline had been horrendously undercapitalised. 13 months after Connect had bought Flybe it was in administration.
I don't know what metrics the ALAEA applied when assessing Cyrus's credentials but I wouldn't have thought that the VX and BE experiences would have been necessarily endearing.
Last edited by MickG0105; 24th Jun 2020 at 06:49. Reason: Typo
Well obie there may be a few uncertainties at the moment, but not the fact that you are wrong. There are two binding bids today unless you missed the last ten posts? The money’s not in the bank but binding bids carry a few legal obligations as the name suggests.
Ansett couldn't find a buyer 20 yrs ago when it was offered for $1 so why would anyone buy Virgin with a $7 billion dollar debt!?
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Virgin will go into administration and be slowly dismembered over many years while Deloitte takes all the dough just as Korda Mentha did 20 yrs ago with Ansett.
Wanna bet?
Wanna bet?
Last edited by Obie; 22nd Jun 2020 at 09:40. Reason: error
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Ansett couldn't find a buyer 20 yrs ago when it was offered for $1 so why would anyone buy Virgin with a $7 billion dollar debt!?
One big difference Sept11 only shut down US airspace for one week, Covid 19 has pretty much shut down the whole planet 4 months and counting.
One big difference Sept11 only shut down US airspace for one week, Covid 19 has pretty much shut down the whole planet 4 months and counting.
You could argue it might be a win for the ‘company’. Write off a lot of debt, renegotiate a raft of leases, reshape the business with little anyone can do about it, the government footing some of the bill. Then rebuild it to suit the market as it re-emerges. Not so good for the employees but that isn’t what big business is about.
Most of that Ansett would not have been able to do exactly because there was a competitive market at the time.
Most of that Ansett would not have been able to do exactly because there was a competitive market at the time.
Ansett couldn't find a buyer 20 yrs ago when it was offered for $1 so why would anyone buy Virgin with a $7 billion dollar debt!?
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Cray business world we live in! Rack up a huge debt cry poor go into admin/liquidation all the while the fat cats at the top get their cut full knowing it's going down the toilet! Enter a new buyer, debt wiped to some degree and the creditors get screwed!
Evertonian
You forgot the 'act indignant when the Govt. won't bail you out' bit.
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........How much they pay is to be decided either by an offer from the new buyer, or if they don't like that deal then from the court.
Very messy.