Brookfield Asset Management rejoined the race to buy Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd, according to a person familiar with the situation, as administrators prepare to narrow the field of suitors for the collapsed carrier.
The Canadian asset manager submitted a bid to administrators at Deloitte on Friday, said the person, declining to be named since the proposal hasn’t been made public.
Deloitte, which set Friday as the deadline for a second round of non-binding offers, will draw up a final shortlist of two groups early next week, it said in a statement.
Lead administrator Vaughan Strawbridge in the statement described the suitors as “well-funded” and with “significant aviation experience” but didn’t name any of them.
Final offers are due by June 12.
Bain Capital and Indigo Partners have publicly said they are among the four shortlisted parties seeking to advance in the process. BGH Capital is one of the four, the people said.
Cyrus Capital Partners is also in the running, the Australian Financial Review has reported, citing unidentified sources.
There are other potential interested parties on the sidelines.
Indigo, which has teamed up with Oaktree Capital, had said it wants a local partner, while Queensland’s government indicated it could engage in negotiations after seeing the list of serious bidders.
Representatives for Bain Capital and Brookfield declined to comment, while representatives for Indigo, BGH and Cyrus did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The deadline to find a new owner comes as administrators work to deliver a speedy rebound for the airline, which collapsed in April overwhelmed by about A$6.8bn ($4.5bn) in debt. The carrier’s problems were amplified by years of losses and a severe revenue shortfall from coronavirus-linked travel cancellations.
Virgin Australia has about A$100mn in cash, enough to see it through to the end of June and complete the sale process, according to Deloitte. Court filings this month show that travel restrictions have whittled down the airline’s gross revenue from its fleet to about A$25mn a month – before fuel and wage costs.
Related Story