shake up tipped at virgin

CHRIS Corrigan will grab control of the Virgin Blue boardroom this week and the market expects change.

Airline co-founder and chief executive Brett Godfrey is tipped to be the first victim, but the changes will be much more broad ranging.
Corrigan has been publicly critical of the way Virgin Blue has expanded so quickly and of its "cut-your-throat" discount fare war with Qantas.

So some analysts are expecting a reduction in the ferocity of the fare war and a more orderly, and profitable, competitive situation.

Last Friday, Corrigan's Patrick Corporation grabbed control of Virgin Blue by getting 50.26 per cent of the budget airline through a hostile $1.1 billion takeover bid.

That bid will now stay open for another two weeks, although Corrigan seems to already have outflanked the airline's "life president", Sir Richard Branson.

Sir Richard's Virgin group still holds 25.5 per cent of the company but it is unclear if he will sell all or part of it into the bid.

Until now Sir Richard has joined most observers in describing Patrick's bid as too low, but skyrocketing oil prices and falling profits have been enough to ensure Patrick picked up the 5 per cent required to grab control.

Patrick shares closed at $6.35 on Friday with Virgin Blue shares steady at $1.90.

* John Beveridge owns shares in Patrick Corporation.