Investors battle for control of Virgin Australia

Virgin Australia bondholders lodged a last-ditch offer for the struggling airline on Wednesday (June 24).

They want to recover more of their investment and stop its sale to a U.S. private equity firm.

The proposal would keep Australia's second largest airline a listed company, and comes two days after Bain Capital and Cyrus Capital Partners made final bids.

The new bid involves a debt-to-equity swap among bondholders owed A$2 billion - or around $1.4 billion U.S. There would also be a fresh capital injection of just over A$1 billion.

A source close to the deal said the offer would allow bondholders to recover around 70 cents on the dollar of their investment.

Two sources also said the proposal would back the existing management team and honour full employee entitlements.

The bondholder statement did not identify those taking part - it only said they included thousands of retail investors.

Virgin entered voluntary administration in April owing nearly A$7 billion to creditors.

The airline had struggled financially even before coronavirus hit travel demand.

Deloitte declined to comment on the bondholder proposal.

The administrator had said on Monday (June 22) that it hoped to select a preferred bidder by June 30.