Street Talk

Inside Bain’s Virgin pitch, and the one number investors will fear

Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport

Jun 4, 2025 – 2.10pm

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Virgin Australia is on track to record revenues of $5.8 billion and a $219 million net profit this financial year, and fund managers have the opportunity to buy shares in the airline at a discount amid strong demand for travel.

That’s the pitch from Bain Capital’s bankers – Barrenjoey, UBS and Goldman Sachs – as they sell the $685 million re-listing of Virgin, as first revealed by this column early on Wednesday. The financial details are contained in a pathfinder prospectus made available to a small number of investors after Bain decided to proceed with the year’s most anticipated float.

Sarah Thompson has co-edited Street Talk since 2009, specialising in private equity, investment banking, M&A and equity capital markets stories. Prior to that, she spent 10 years in London as a markets and M&A reporter at Bloomberg and Dow Jones.

Kanika Sood is a journalist based in Sydney who writes for the Street Talk column.

Emma Rapaport is a co-editor of the Street Talk column. Prior to that, she was a markets reporter at The Australian Financial Review.