BGH Capital has brought another adviser into its tent to assist with its bid for Virgin Australia, with UBS now working for the Australian private equity firm.
The news was revealed online by DataRoom on Monday and comes as BGH, headed by former Macquarie Capital boss Robin Bishop and TPG Capital executives Ben Gray and Simon Harle, waits to learn as to whether it has been ushered through to the final round of the competition to buy the airline.
Virgin Australia was placed into voluntary administration in April, with most of its fleet grounded due to COVID-19 disruptions. At the time, it had debts worth $6.8bn.
Administrators from Deloitte have been managing the proposed sale of the airline.
Restructuring specialists at advisory firm Moelis and law firm Arnold Bloch Leibler have already been assisting BGH with its bid.
The appointment is an interesting one for BGH, given the firm’s close links to Macquarie Capital, the major rival for the Switzerland-based UBS.
However, Macquarie is the adviser to Virgin’s rival Qantas.
UBS was for many years the adviser to Virgin Australia.
When Virgin Australia went into voluntary administration, UBS ended its involvement, leaving Morgan Stanley, Houlihan Lokey and Deloitte assisting with the process.
BGH is competing for the Richard Branson-founded airline in partnership with Australian Super as it looks to promote itself as an Australian consortium buyer.
The local private equity firm is competing with other groups that were also recently short-listed in the second round of the process.
These include Bain Capital, which is advised by Korda Mentha and Goldman Sachs, US-based Indigo Partners with Oaktree Capital Management, also advised by Korda Mentha, and Cyrus Capital Partners.
Bain Capital is also consulting with Hughes Hubbard and Reed in New York for aviation expertise and has PwC offering accounting advice, Herbert Smith Freehills and Norton White as its law firms and Bain & Co offering assistance with aviation lease expertise.
More detailed proposals from those four parties were due on Friday, with groups expected to learn on Monday if they would be one of the two successful candidates that would work toward a final offer for the airline.
The thinking is that they will now hear on Tuesday.
However, in a twist to the contest, Brookfield, which was knocked out in the first round, also came from left field to submit a proposal on Friday.
Despite being left out of the competition, Brookfield has remained in dialogue with voluntary administrator Deloitte which has urged the Canadian private equity firm to continue to offer thought as to whether it could continue to compete for Virgin Australia.
It was earlier out of the running because it was unhappy with the number of bidders going through to the second round and also the process time frame.
It was previously understood that Brookfield may have had some involvement with Macquarie Group for its bid, while former Virgin Group executive David Baxby has been aiding its efforts.
With Brookfield submitting an offer, it will be interesting to see if the shortlist now comprises three groups rather than two.
More Coverage
Sims could reap windfall from land sales
Some in the market believe that Sims needs to put some more thought towards selling more assets.
Bids due for BGC building materials empire
The contest is well under way for parties to buy the $800m BGC building materials business based in Perth.