Banks pitch for role in Virgin Australia listing

Virgin is expected to come to market with less than one times its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation after debt woes were the cause of its undoing two years ago. Picture: Bloomberg

Bain Capital was thought to be still negotiating with investment banks on Monday over debt they could provide for a potential listing of its airline Virgin Australia.

The banks had pitched to the private equity firm to gain a role on the float of the $3bn company, but one of the asks from Bain had been to offer debt for a refinancing.

It was expected that the line-up would be known by Friday.

Goldman Sachs and UBS so far are considered a sure bet to land a mandate and it is understood eight banks that pitched. These included others such as Bank of America, Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, Royal Bank of Canada, Barrenjoey and Jefferies.

Virgin is expected to come to market with less than one times its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation after debt woes were the cause of its undoing two years ago.

Bain bought Virgin out of collapse in 2020 for $3.5bn including debt, and before it entered voluntary administration it had loans worth $5bn.