Australia's Virgin Blue wants fast transition

[Yada Yada]

Australia's Virgin Blue wants fast transition after major shareholder changes
05.09.2006, 11:34 PM

SYDNEY (AFX) - Virgin Blue Holdings Ltd chief executive Brett Godfrey said he hopes the discount airline's board will be quickly restructured following a change in the company's ownership, clearing the way for it to launch new initiatives.

Godfrey said he expects his company's board will be restructured as he believes Virgin's major shareholder, ports operator Patrick Corp Ltd with 62.4 pct, will come under control of transport logistics group Toll Holdings Ltd this week after an 8-month 6 bln aud takeover battle.

'There other things that we want to do and some of them are more adventurous so it involves sitting down with the new owners and we are hoping it stays with Toll and the other owner of Virgin,' Godfrey told a media conference after the airline reported an 8.4 pct fall in first half profit to 68.2 mln aud due to high fuel prices.

Godfrey said he hopes Toll will retain its soon to be gained 62 pct stake in Virgin Blue.

More...

From some of the following paragraphs it seems that the MacBank offer may have fallen through.

 

[JohnK]

From some of the following paragraphs it seems that the MacBank offer may have fallen through.

Yes you are right. Apparently the deal fell through. According to a Macquarie Bank announcement on Tuesday a key investment partner withdrew earlier in the week. It would seem that some Patrick executives did not want a Toll takeover and tried to source a higher offer.

Investors now have until Friday to accept the offer. Toll currently owns just over 10% of Patrick.

Whether Virgin Blue survives the storm will be revealed in the episode.

 

[Damien]

Toll just issued a press release stating that it has taken control of Patrick Corp. It included the following.

Virgin Blue Australia (Virgin)

Toll will commence a business review of Virgin before taking any decision about its intentions.

Paul Little, Mark Rowsthorn and Neil Chatfield will replace the Patrick Directors on the Virgin Board.

Toll welcomes the support it has received from Virgin management to date and looks forward to working with them and the Virgin Group to create value for all Virgin shareholders.

The release hasn't hit the Toll website yet, but you can see it on the ASX site.

 

[Yada Yada]

I was reading my free Fin Review in the QP today and saw that Brett Godfrey was commenting that he looked forward to stable ownership soon so that they can get back on with strategic planning.