As Virgin Australia scrambles to stay intact and afloat, more than a dozen private equity funds are hovering in the hope the airline will call it a day so they can pick up the carcass on the cheap.
The Australian Financial Review revealed on Friday that two private consortia, including BGH Capital, a private equity operator run by Ben Gray, were doing the numbers on the airline.
Virgin CREDIT:SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
The newspaper said their interest would take the pressure off the government to provide a $1.4 billion loan to the struggling airline. However, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald can reveal that numerous private equity operators and hedge funds would be interested in buying the airline if it was put into administration.
One big private equity operator said he knew of 20 funds looking at Virgin but a deal would only work if the airline was placed into administration due to its bulging $5 billion debt. “Nobody will put money in and be behind the existing debt,” he said.
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