Final Virgin Australia bids will be key test for ailing airlines

The final bids for Virgin Australia Holdings will show how much appetite private investors really have for an airline industry that’s been battered by the coronavirus pandemic. Administrator Deloitte this month chose private equity firms Bain Capital LP and Cyrus Capital Partners LP as the last two suitors for the Australian airline, which collapsed in April under A$6.8b ($4.7b) of debt after the government declined to step in. After months of jockeying over conditional proposals, with more than a dozen other parties falling away, the potential buyers must commit to binding offers Monday. Deloitte aims to secure a deal by the end of June. Whoever wins the bid, Virgin Australia’s prospects are uncertain and business travel likely will be curtailed for years, said Warren Staples, a senior lecturer in management at RMIT University in Melbourne. “There might be a gap between what they pitch and the reality of what happens,” Staples said.<br/>