The lack of well-defined funding plan was one reason that Brookfield – considered a serious contender – dropped out of the sales process, a source said.
Those four parties will now meet with stakeholders, including management, employees, unions and bondholders, to try to hammer out a deal.
It’s unclear whether the federal government would consider helping Virgin complete a sale.
It turned down the debt-laden airline’s request for a $1.4 billion loan in April this year, prompting the board to place the company in voluntary administration.
Another option for some emergency funding may be the bidders.
The lack of well-defined funding plan was one reason that Brookfield – considered a serious contender – dropped out of the sales process, a source said.
More broadly, Brookfield dropped out because of concerns about how the sales process was being run – too many bidders, too many stakeholders, too little time.
It’s unclear whether any bidder – even the one recommended by administrator Deloitte – would be willing to provide a loan, ahead of the creditors meeting in late August, when the administrator will seek approval from creditors for any sale.
Deloitte’s lead administrator, partner Vaughan Strawbridge, told The Australian Financial Review this week there is only enough cash for the business to “get through our sale process”, which is due to be completed by the end of June.
“We’ve been considering what the options are for potential additional funding should it be required and when would be the appropriate time,” he said.
“At this time, we’ve got enough to get through to our sale process, but we continue to revise that given what we can do around unlocking restricted cash in the group and also around managing the expenses.”
Mr Strawbridge’s comments follow criticism about a chaotic and unhelpfully aggressive process, which more than one bidder has flagged concerns could tip the airline into liquidation.
Virgin entered voluntary administration with debts of $6.8 billion.
Other parties are still on the edges of the sales process. These include Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, which has licensed the brand to the local airline for hundreds of millions of dollars since it started listed in 2003, and the state governments.
The Queensland government has been particularly vocal about its desire to keep the airline headquartered in Brisbane and save jobs..
Parties pursuing Virgin as creditors include 26 lenders under secured corporate debt and aircraft financing facilities owed $2.6 billion.
But the most significant group is Virgins more than 9000 employees, who are due about $450 million in entitlements.
Virgin also owes its unsecured bondholders about $2 billion; a thousand trade creditors $166.7 million; 50 aircraft lessors $1.9 billion; and 81 landlords $71 million.
Another creditor is the group’s frequent flyer division, which lent the airline $150 million as well as buying advance plane tickets.
The frequent flyer division, which is once again allowing customers to redeem flights with points, isn’t in administration because it is a separate entity.
But sources have said it will be worth very little without an operating airline and a successful sale process.
While Velocity could potentially loan the money, it is considered very unlikely it would do so.