Virgin Atlantic (VS, London Heathrow) is attempting to secure a financial rescue deal worth more than GBP500 million pounds (USD626 million), and two investment firms that have been examining offers are now in talks to submit their own joint bid, Sky News reported citing unnamed City of London sources.
US-based hedge fund Elliott Management Corporation and UK private investment firm Greybull Capital, which owned Monarch Airlines (1968) (London Luton) when it collapsed in 2017, are reportedly in discussions about submitting a joint offer to provide new funding to Virgin Atlantic.
They would be competing against other asset management firms, such as New York's Davidson Kempner Capital Management, the report said.
While it is known that Virgin Atlantic is trying to wrap up a rescue package by the end of June, some sources have suggested that the funding requirements have diminished in recent weeks. As previously reported, the UK government has so far been reluctant to channel taxpayers' money into the airline.
The carrier is also fighting to secure concessions - based on the value of its slots at London Heathrow - from its second-largest shareholder Delta Air Lines (DL, Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson), the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), and a syndicate of banks and bondholders that lent it money in 2015.
Having already made about a third of its workforce redundant, Virgin Atlantic has, according to Sky News, asked turnaround management specialists Alvarez & Marsal to act as administrator in case a solvent rescue deal cannot be achieved.
