In the largest initial public offering of an airline in the Asia Pacific region in a decade, Virgin Australia Holdings (Virgin Australia) completed its initial public offering and listing on the Australian Securities Exchange, raising A$685 million ($445 million).
The IPO consisted of an offer to qualified institutional buyers in the United States pursuant to Rule 144A, an offer to eligible institutional investors in Australia and New Zealand, and a retail offer conducted outside the United States. Virgin Australia’s selling shareholder, an entity controlled by funds managed by Bain Capital, has retained 40 percent ownership of Virgin Australia following the IPO.
Virgin Australia is Australia’s second largest airline group, providing domestic and international travel services to millions of Australian and international customers each year.
S&C represented the joint lead managers as their U.S. counsel on the offering, including Goldman Sachs Australia, UBS Securities Australia and Barrenjoey Markets.
The S&C team was led by Wally Jones and Paul Rota and included Karina Poon. David Hariton advised on U.S. taxation matters.