Billionaire Richard Branson is searching for interested buyers for Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd., as he tries to obtain a government loan of around half billion pounds ($618 million), the Telegraph disclosed.
Branson has set a deadline to save the beleaguered British airline by end of May. He is bent on securing a fresh private relief package from over 100 finance companies, the Telegraph quoted sources with knowledge of the matter as saying.
Other sources disclosed that hopes for a £500 million government bail have been canceled, and Virgin Galactic is instead searching for a private partner or buyer, The Sunday Telegraph said. Some 50 potential investors are believed to have asked for more details.
Lansdowne Partners, a hedge fund founded by George Osborne's best man Peter Davies, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund Temasek and Northill Capital, the fund backed by Ernesto Bertarelli, are reportedly among those involved in providing cash assistance to the airline.
Houlihan Lokey, the investment banking firm hired by top executives of Virgin Atlantic, has sounded out some 100 potential financial groups with "all options on the table", the sources divulged.
Branson said Virgin Atlantic could go not survive the ongoing global health crisis if it does not receive any financial help from the British government.
In a public letter to his staff, which was posted on social media, Branson said that they will do "everything we can to keep the airline going" but that it will require government assistance to be able to make that happen.
Branson said the global airline sector is being pummeled by the pandemic as restrictions in travel, the non-essential ones included, and a dropping appetite for travel has dragged the industry down.
The billionaire recently offered his own private Caribbean island estate, estimated by Forbes to be valued at around £80 million - less than a fifth of the figure being requested - as collateral for taxpayer money used to rescue the embattled airline.
Branson has previously vowed to allot £215 million of his own money into his business empire - which includes an airline, railway franchise and leisure centers - to keep it running during the crisis.
Delta Air Lines Inc., which has a 49 percent share in Virgin Atlantic and is hounded by its own pandemic-related pains, has already bumped up against British caps on foreign airline company ownership, the US company's chief executive officer, Ed Bastian, on Thursday revealed.
The 69-year old Branson has become the highest-profile victim of an airline-industry nightmare that is only just beginning. Virgin Australia, another airline that Branson founded, entered administration last week after failing to secure a government financial rescue.
