Virgin Australia to enter into administration

By April 20, 2020 Featured

According to reports in both The Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian Financial Review, Virgin Australia will be entering voluntary administration after a board meeting between the airline’s directors.

Virgin Australia was seeking a AUS$1.4 billion loan from the federal government prior to switching its focus to secure help from states across Australia.

According to the newspapers, both initially reported that two private equity firms were considering to purchase the airline’s assets when it went into administration, one of which was believed to be BGH, a private equity firm owned by Ben Gray.

Among the company’s current shareholders are Singapore Airlines, China’s HNA Group and Nanshan Group and Richard Branson’s Virgin Group.

The crisis began on Saturday when a row broke out over where the company should locate its new headquarters and the Palaszczuk government offered Virgin a AUS$200 million lifeline on the provision that other states contribute and the airline’s business remained in Brisbane.

The following day, NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet implied that any contribution from his government would be on the proviso that that headquarters would be loacted in Sydney instead.

Minister for State Development in Queensland, Cameron Dick hit back saying that this woud require more than 1,200 staff to move states in order to keep their jobs.

“It’s a nonsense to think the Prime Minister would even consider a New South Wales plan to move the airline there,” he stated.