Toll struggles to sell its stake in Virgin Blue
A report in The Sydney Morning Herald by Scott Rochfort says that Toll Holdings is struggling to find a buyer for its 62.3 per cent stake in Virgin Blue months after putting a for sale sign on its majority shareholding in the airline.
The transport company had hoped to complete its “review” of its investment in Virgin Blue by the end of 2007. But buyers rumoured to have an interest in the stake, such as the Texas Pacific founder David Bonderman, have failed to surface.
And now it is understood that the advisers behind the deal, Goldman Sachs JBWere, have delayed the review until early February, blaming the turbulence in global credit markets for the delay. In light of the collapse of deals including SP AusNet’s $8.1 billion purchase of Alinta’s energy assets and the $3.3 billion takeover of Nufarm, it is understood Toll has been advised to wait for credit markets to stabilise.
Toll’s managing director, Paul Little, was unavailable for comment. But at the company’s annual meeting in October he told shareholders: “Toll remains of the view … that its shareholders will achieve greater value if the majority of this investment is redeployed into other assets, more closely aligned with our Asian focus.”
It has been speculated the sale of the $1.4 billion stake could help Toll fund a takeover tilt for Brambles, in which it has built a small stake. Singapore Airlines, Emirates and even Air New Zealand have all quashed rumours they might look at Virgin Blue. If Toll fails to find a buyer for its entire stake it has been speculated that it could try to privatise the airline by reaching an agreement with Richard Branson, who still owns 25 per cent. Toll, Sir Richard and Virgin Blue’s managing director, Brett Godfrey, control 90 per cent, meaning the airline could easily be taken off the stock exchange boards.
It is unclear whether Toll could revert to its original deal with Sir Richard in 2005, when it launched its takeover bid for the airline’s then majority owner, Patrick Corporation. The deal proposed that Toll would sell some of its shares to Sir Richard and some on the market, then sell down its remaining interest over several years.
A Report by The Mole and The Sydney Mornign Herald
John Alwyn-Jones
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