Virgin Australia Holdings

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Virgin Australia Holdings Limited
Public (ASX: VAH)
Industry Airline
Founded 2000
Headquarters Bowen Hills, Brisbane
Key people
 Neil Chatfield (Chairman)
John Borghetti (CEO)
Revenue A$3.988billion (June 2013)
Owner Air New Zealand (26%)
Singapore Airlines (23%)
Etihad Airways (21%)
Virgin Group (10%)
Number of employees
 9,425 (June 2014)
Subsidiaries Tigerair Australia
Virgin Australia
Virgin Australia Airlines (NZ)
Virgin Australia Regional
Virgin Samoa
Slogan Now you're flying
Website www.virginaustralia.com

Virgin Australia Holdings Limited is the holding company that owns and operates Virgin Australia and Tigerair Australia. It previously operated Pacific Blue Airlines and joint-venture airline Polynesian Blue which were absorbed into Virgin Australia in December 2011. Its head office is located in Bowen Hills, Brisbane.

History

File:Virgin Blue holdings ltd.png
Former Virgin Blue Holdings logo, used until December 2011

Virgin Blue Holdings was formed in 2000 as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Virgin Group.

In 2001, the then Air New Zealand owned Ansett Australia made a buyout offer of $250 million which, was publicly rejected by Richard Branson.[1]

In 2002, Virgin came to an agreement with Patrick Corporation to invest in the airline, to allow it to grow into a national airline, filling the void following the demise of Ansett Australia.[2]

In return for a 50% share of the company, Patrick invested $260 million. At the time, the view was that Patrick's shareholding would also allow the company to benefit from their new shareholders political connections with the Howard Government, and also 'Greenwash' the company, allowing it to be described as Australian-owned. [3]

In 2003, Virgin Blue Holdings Limited was floated on the Australian Securities Exchange as Virgin Group sought to sell down its holdings.[2]

In early 2005 Patrick launched a hostile takeover for Virgin Australia Holdings. Patrick had been unhappy for some time with the company's direction. By the closure of the offer, Patrick held 62% of the company, giving it control. Virgin Group retained a 25% share. In 2006, Patrick Corporation was taken over by Toll Holdings, who maintained the ownership of shares in Virgin Blue Holdings. In 2008 the group announced a plan to distribute 98.3% of its shares in the company to its shareholders, thus making itself no longer a majority stakeholder.[4] At the time Toll Holdings owned 62.7% of the company and had previously attempted to sell the share to no avail.[5][6]

In January 2011, Air New Zealand purchased a 15% shareholding in Virgin Blue Holdings.[7] In June 2013 this was increased to 23%.[8]

In September 2012, Etihad Airways purchased a 10% shareholding, this was later increased to 20%.

In October 2012, Singapore Airlines bought a 10% stake in Virgin Australia Holdings.[9] In April 2013 this was increased to 20%.[10]

In October 2012, Virgin Australia Holdings announced it had purchased a 60% stake in Tiger Airways Australia with the transaction concluded in July 2013.[11] Tiger would continue to operate as a low cost subsidiary of Virgin Australia for 20 years.

In April 2013, Virgin Australia Holdings completed its acquisition of regional airline Skywest Airlines and rebranded it Virgin Australia Regional Airlines.[12]

In October 2014, Virgin Australia Holdings announced plans to acquire the 40% stake of Tigerair Australia still held by Tiger Airways Holdings for $1, giving Virgin full ownership. Virgin would retain the Tigerair name and acquire the brand rights for Tigerair to operate to some international destinations from Australia.[13][14]

Head office

Virgin Village, the Virgin Blue Holdings Limited head office in Bowen Hills, Brisbane

Virgin Australia Holdings has its head office in Virgin Village in Bowen Hills, Brisbane. As of 2008, 1,000 employees work at Virgin Village.[15] The building, with about 13,220 square metres (142,300 sq ft) A-Grade office space, was triple net leased to Virgin Blue.[16]

As the airline started operations, it decided to place its head office in the Brisbane area. Brett Godfrey, the-then chief executive of Virgin Blue, said in 2006 that the decision "was a long considered one and has worked well."[17] The airline originally had its head office in Fortitude Valley. The airline purchased a $61 million site in Bowen Hills for its new head office. The firm Sunland Group, which had acquired the Bowen Hills site for $8 million in 2005, had scheduled to complete the new head office in March, and the airline would be ready to move into the new head office by August of the following year.[18] The current head office facility, Virgin Village, formally opened on 17 October 2008.[19]

Shareholders

Virgin Australia is publicly listed. As at 16 September 2015 major shareholders were:[20]

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Air NZ revealed as buyer of 3pc additional Virgin stake The Australian 6 June 2013
  9. ↑ Singapore Airlines buys 10% stake in Virgin Australia BBC News 30 October 2012
  10. ↑ Singapore ups Virgin stake to 20 per cent Sydney Morning Herald 24 April 2013
  11. ↑ Tiger air becomes part of Virgin News.com.au 8 July 2013
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ "Virgin Blue National Headquarters, Brisbane - new 12 year lease." Jones Lang La Salle. Retrieved on 9 February 2010.
  17. ↑ "Virgin Blue In State Of Excitement Over New Invest Queensland Campaign." Virgin Blue. Monday 6 March 2006. Retrieved on 8 February 2010.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ "The Year That Was." 2009 Virgin Blue Annual Report. Retrieved on 8 February 2010.
  20. ↑ http://www.virginaustralia.com/cs/groups/internetcontent/@wc/documents/webcontent/~edisp/annual-financial-report-2015.pdf

External links

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