Virgin Australia will go ahead with its A$350 million ($388 million) equity-raising after the Australian Takeovers Panel rejected a complaint about the plan.
Air New Zealand, Etihad Airways and Singapore Airlines will lift their collective stake in the company from 62.6 per cent up to almost 70 per cent, creating a furore across the Tasman with Qantas claiming it gives Virgin an unfair advantage and the Australian Shareholders Association saying a cap on smaller retail investors disadvantaged them.
ASA spokesman Stephen Mayne applied to the Takeovers Panel, arguing the equity-raising had had been structured to concentrate control of the company in the hands of the foreign airlines.
He had sought orders removing the cap for retail investors and blocking Etihad from lifting its stake in Virgin.
The panel concluded that any shortfall will be dispersed effectively between Air New Zealand, Etihad Airways and Singapore Airlines through sub-underwriting arrangements and that the outcome of the entitlement offer would be to maintain substantially the structure of Virgin Australia's share register. It said the plan was not against the public interest and declined to make a declaration of "unacceptable circumstances".
