Air NZ to join in discounted Virgin Australia rights offer

Air NZ will take part in Virgin Australia's planned A$852m rights issue, even though the national carrier plans to offload the bulk of its stake to China's Nanshan Group. Virgin Australia Wednesday said it will sell shares to shore up its balance sheet. Australia's second-biggest airline had already announced plans to raise $159m selling shares to China's HNA Group and the new deal has the backing of its cornerstone airline shareholders. Air NZ, SIA, HNA, Virgin Group, and Nanshan have committed to take up the offer. If Air NZ hasn't completed the sale of its Virgin stake to Nanshan, it has agreed to pick up Nanshan's share of the entitlement offer. <br/>