Virgin Australia: InterGlobe Enterprises fails to make it to next bidding round

IndiGo co-promoter InterGlobe Enterprises' bid for crisis-hit Virgin Australia has been rejected for the next round, according to a company source.

When contacted, an InterGlobe Enterprises spokesperson said they have taken note of Australian media coverage but did not specifically clarify on their bid status.

Australian media reports said the company was not shortlisted for the next round of bidding for Virgin Australia.

Last week, Rahul Bhatia-led InterGlobe Enterprises said it has signed an agreement to participate in the sale process for Virgin Australia.

"We have taken note of the Australian media coverage, we have nothing further to add," the spokesperson said.

The company source told PTI that InterGlobe Enterprises was not shortlisted for the next round.

 

On Monday, the administrators of Virgin Australia said the process to find a new owner for Virgin Australia has taken a significant step forward with the shortlisting of a small number of parties.

However, details of the shortlisted parties were not disclosed.

Australian media reports said four parties have been shortlisted for the next round of bidding for Virgin Australia.

The Australian Financial Review reported that InterGlobe Enterprises was not shortlisted.

InterGlobe Enterprises earlier argued it was pointless submitting an indicative valuation with its proposal given the limited due diligence and non-binding nature of the number, and did not budge on that stance across the weekend, the report said.

As per the report, the four shortlisted parties for the next round are Bain Capital, BGH Capital, US aviation firm Indigo Partners and New York-based investor Cyrus Capital Partners.

Impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, Virgin Australia Group entered into voluntary administration in April. Group entity Velocity Frequent Flyer is a separate company and is not in administration.

In a statement on Monday, the administrators of Virgin Australia Group said the process to find a new owner and bring Virgin Australia out of voluntary administration as soon as possible, had taken a significant step forward with the shortlisting of a small number of parties to be invited into the next stage of the process.

"We understand some parties will be disappointed that they have not been invited to continue their interest... We cannot comment on who the shortlisted parties are due to confidentiality commitments but we will be working intensely with them over the next four weeks to enable binding offers by mid-June," the statement said.

The administrators are Vaughan Strawbridge, John Greig, Sal Algeri and Richard Hughes.

At the end of March, InterGlobe Enterprises had 37.87 per cent stake in InterGlobe Aviation, parent of the country's largest airline IndiGo.