 Virgin Blue has grown rapidly in the past 18 months |
Virgin Blue, Richard Branson's low-cost Australian airline, will be valued at 2.3bn Australian dollars (�981m) when it lists on the stock market on Monday. A public share sale closed more than 10 times oversubscribed, raising up to A$666m for the company.
The three-year-old airline has grown rapidly and now has 30% of Australia's domestic flights market.
"Virgin Blue has... established itself as a serious rival to Qantas," said aviation consultant Peter Harbison.
"There is a great shortage of stock in this sector in this region but also it is the glamour area of the airline industry at the moment."
Virgin Blue's flotation had been scheduled for June, but was delayed because of uncertain market conditions in light of war on Iraq, outbreak of the Sars virus and a downturn in Australian tourism triggered by the Bali bombings.
Virgin Blue said 94% of its staff and "many thousands" of its customers had applied to buy shares.
Virgin Group will retain a stake of 25-29% in the listed Virgin Blue. The final level of its shareholding will be determined on Monday.
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