Freehills is acting as Australian legal counsel to J.P. Morgan Australia Limited and Credit Suisse (Australia) Limited on their underwriting of Virgin Blue Holdings Limited’s (Virgin Blue) announced capital raising of approximately A$231.4 million.
The raising will be via:
- an institutional placement to raise approximately A$21 million, and
- a 1-for-1 pro-rata non-renounceable entitlement offer at A$0.20 per share, for institutional and retail investors, to raise approximately A$210.4 million.
Virgin Blue’s largest shareholder, Virgin Group, will take up its full pro-rata entitlement and 35 per cent of the institutional placement, as well as sub-underwriting 20 per cent of the retail component of the entitlement offer.
The purpose of the offer is to strengthen Virgin Blue’s capital position and to provide financial flexibility for the airline to pursue future growth opportunities.
The Freehills team is led by partner Tony Sparks, senior associate Faith Sing and solicitors Steve Drummond and Jeremy Chew.
Freehills partner Tony Sparks said: ‘The deal reflects the trend for listed company’s to engage with their cornerstone investors to support their wider capital raising.’
‘An interesting aspect of the deal was producing an offer structure that was in line with our client’s objectives that also enabled the company to effectively manage compliance with airline specific ownership legislation.’
Freehills’ award winning teams have advised on many of the cornerstone investments of late including advising Warburg Pincus on its cornerstone investment in Transpacific Industries Group Limited, Fisher & Paykel on its cornerstone placement and GIC Real Estate on its investment in the GPT Group.
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