Chance to weaken Qantas makes Virgin an attractive target

[SYDNEY] What makes Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd, the second-largest competitor in a market with only 23 million passengers, such an attractive takeover target? The chance to weaken Qantas Airways Ltd on international routes.

Singapore Airlines, Air New Zealand and Etihad Airways have been lifting their stakes in Brisbane, Australia-based Virgin to cement partnerships and help it take on a domestic monopoly that Qantas enjoyed for almost a decade.

With the three airlines and Richard Branson's Virgin Group nearing an 80 per cent holding, the US$1.25 billion company may be taken private, said UBS AG and Macquarie Group Ltd.