State Government to sign $200m agreement with Bain Capital to keep Virgin headquarters in Queensland
The Queensland Government will today sign a $200m deal with embattled airline Virgin Australia, which will keep the company’s headquarters in Brisbane, but there’s no guarantee there will be no more job losses.
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Virgin Australia’s headquarters will stay in Brisbane, with the State Government to sign an agreement with Bain Capital today.
Treasurer Cameron Dick said Queensland would invest $200 million into the rescued airline, which would comprise of a 10 per cent equity stake, a loan and other financial incentives.
It will be a 10-year agreement.
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“The return to the Queensland taxpayer on that investment will be about 7 per cent over the duration of that agreement,” Mr Dick said.
Asked, “Can you guarantee there’ll be no more job losses,” the Treasurer said that question would need to be put to Virgin.
“We’re working as hard as we can and Virgin will make the decision about what form the airline takes going forward but we’re the only government in Australia that supported this,” he said.
Asked whether the Government had asked for a commitment to jobs, given its $200 million investment, Mr Dick said, “We don’t run the airline, the airline is run by Virgin.”
“What we wanted to do was secure the continuation of the airline,” he said.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the Government guaranteed the headquarters would stay in Brisbane and that it wanted as many jobs as possible to stay in Queensland.
Mr Dick wasn’t sure what time the deal would be signed by the Queensland Investment Corporation today.