Originally Posted by
OltonPete
A question on that point, if a potential buyer wants to do due diligence what access to they get to the financials? Obviously there are the published accounts but do they get commercial sensitive information about bases/individual routes ?
I have a bit of experience on M&A. Once a buyer has stated their interest and signed all the requisite NDAs, they will have access to everything including the annual bill for loo roll. In my view, the company will be segmented with the purchaser taking the choice cuts through a new company and leaving what it doesn't want for the creditors to fight over at pennies in the pound. The old Flybe could be made more efficient such as pooling the fuel futures but the huge disparity in spend and lack of commonality suggests that Big Virgin would see zero benefit. The lack of a third runway at EGLL and spare capacity at EGKK limits options to gather feeder traffic from regional and near continent departure points. Whether the interest is genuine remains to be seen.