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By Praveen Menon and Scott Murdoch
SYDNEY, March 10 (Reuters) – Virgin Australia is seeking a loan of up to A$450 million ($296.4 million) to repay money to its private-equity owner before the airline closes for later this year will be relisted, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
Australia’s second-largest airline is in talks with banks including Goldman Sachs and UBS over the loan, the sources said, although no decision has been made and the debt size is yet to be finalized.
The sources declined to be named as the talks were private. The airline’s owners, Bain Capital, and Goldman Sachs declined to comment. UBS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Bain said in January it would consider re-listing Virgin, which it bought for A$3.5bn ($2.45bn) including liabilities in 2020 after it was put into voluntary administration, the next Australian equivalent of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The company last month hired Goldman, UBS and Barrenjoey as lead managers for its potential initial public offering (IPO).
Virgin is looking to raise at least A$1 billion, the two sources said, making it the biggest share sale in Australia since investment firm GQG Partners raised A$1.18 billion in October 2021.
The sources said the airline, a competitor of Qantas Airways Ltd in the domestic market, will target an equity valuation of at least A$3 billion when it goes public. (Reporting by Praveen Menon and Scott Murdoch; Editing by Anshuman Daga, Shri Navaratnam and Kim Coghill)
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