Bain and Branson-linked Cyrus final two in race to buy Virgin
Virgin Australia's administrators Deloitte have picked American private equity giant Bain Capital and the Richard Branson-linked firm Cyrus Capital as the final two bidders vying to buy and relaunch the collapsed airline.
The decision, finalised on Tuesday, sidelines three other bidders - local private equity group BGH Capital and its partner AustralianSuper; US budget airline specialist Indigo Partners, and Canadian asset manager Brookfield - and kickstarts the final stage in the process to keep Virgin alive.
The final shortlist of bidders will have until June 12 to make binding offers for Virgin. Credit:AP
Bain and Cyrus have until June 12 to hold further meetings with Virgin's management, workforce, airline lessors and creditors ahead of making binding offers by June 12.
Virgin went into voluntary administration in April with debts of $6.8 billion after the coronavirus pandemic forced the already financially struggling airline to ground almost its entire fleet.
The New York-based Cyrus has a history of investing in airlines alongside Virgin Group boss Richard Branson, launching Virgin America together in 2005 before selling it to Alaska Air for $2.6 billion in 2015.
Cyrus and Virgin Atlantic (which is 51 per cent owned by Mr Branson) bought the British regional airline Flybe in February 2019 with a plan to rebrand it as Virgin Connect. However, the airline went into administration in March this year.
Mr Branson owned 10 per cent of Virgin Australia when it collapsed along with other major shareholders Singapore Airlines, Etihad Airways and Chinese groups HNA and Nanshan.
The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald has previously revealed that Cyrus intends to maintain Virgin as a full-service international airline, which is in contrast to Bain, which has said it will move Virgin closer to its budget roots. Cyrus’ inclusion in the final shortlist caught some observers by surprise, following reports on Tuesday morning that it was considered the least likely to go through.