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Australian airline Virgin hits $641 mln capital raising target

Published 02/08/2016, 09:53 am
Updated 02/08/2016, 10:30 am
© Reuters. Australian airline Virgin hits $641 mln capital raising target
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SYDNEY, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd VAH.AX , the country's No. 2 airline, on Tuesday said other airlines helped it reach its A$852 million ($641 million) target in a share entitlement offer, enabling it to pay for a host of cost-cutting initiatives.

The Sydney-listed carrier already four-fifths owned by other airlines said it sold new shares to Singapore Airlines SIAL.SI , China's No. 1 private airline HNA Aviation, Richard Branson's Virgin Group, Chinese conglomerate Nanshan Group, Etihad Airways and Air New Zealand Ltd AIR.AX .

HNA will also top up an already-planned 13 percent stake in the company to 19 percent, taking the total amount of money Virgin will raise to A$1.1 billion, the airline added, more than its current market capitalisation of A$974 million.

Virgin will hope the capital raising creates investor support and liquidity to continue with a capacity-cutting programme it has undertaken to cope with intense competition in the global travel industry.

"Our renewed capital structure will strengthen our balance sheet, provide additional liquidity and support improvement in earnings and cashflow, while also funding initiatives for sustainable growth," Chief Executive Officer John Borghetti said in a statement.

Virgin last week said its net loss for the year to June 30, 2016, more than doubled from the prior year because of one-off costs associated with the restructure.

The company is scheduled to publish detailed full-year results on Aug. 5.

($1 = 1.3287 Australian dollars)

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