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Investment advisory firm Cyrus Capital Partners has withdrawn its bid to acquire Virgin Australia (ASX: VAH), leaving Bain Capital as the last bidder standing.
As reported by the ABC Cyrus says the decision was made after Virgin administrator Deloitte allegedly failed to "meaningfully engage" with Cyrus.
The shock move comes just days before Deloitte was set to announce which of the two parties had submitted the successful bid for the Virgin acquisition.
It also comes one day after Virgin Australia bondholders offered to invest $925 million into the airline in a last-minute pitch to recapitalise the company.
Deloitte declined to comment on the bondholder pitch, but all will be revealed by next Monday when the preferred bidder is selected.
"On the morning of 22 June 2020, Cyrus presented to the administrators of Virgin Australia Holdings an offer to acquire the airline, its regional business and the frequent flyer program Velocity, in accordance with the administrators' procedures," Cyrus was quoted as saying.
"However, since then, the administrators have not returned calls, emails, or meaningfully engaged with Cyrus to progress its offer."
The ABC also reports that Cyrus submitted a further package of "value improvements" to Deloitte yesterday but had still not heard back from Deloitte beyond an acknowledgement that the message had been received.
Deloitte is expected to make a statement regarding Cyrus' exit from the Virgin bid later today.
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Business News Australia
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