Street Talk

US distressed debt giant lobs bid for collapsed airline Rex

Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport

Jun 9, 2025 – 9.00pm

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The long-haul sale process for Regional Express is finally preparing to land, 10 months after the airline collapsed amid a bitter boardroom feud and a misplaced ambition to compete against Qantas and Virgin Australia by flying popular capital city routes.

Binding bids for the carrier, better known as Rex, were due last week after administrator EY and its sale advisor Houlihan Lokey canvassed local and international buyers. The investment bank was hired in February, and is expected to declare the winning bidder within weeks.

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.