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Old 28th Feb 2002, 10:16
  #25 (permalink)  
Prong Wallop
 
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Age: 69
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Yes indeed Whiskery. Deregulation certainly enabled fatty and I think to a greater extent, the dirty digger, to effectively bleed Ansett to death. It is interesting to note that the rapid expansion of News Corp coincided with purchase of Ansett and subsequent sale and lease back agreements that unlocked cash for the owners but saddled the company with long term leases payable in foreign currencies. Ansett consistently made operating profits but bottom line losses due to foreign currency transactions. It was during the late eighties and early nineties that financial deregulation heralded the steady and significant decline in the Ozzy dollar. I am sure that foreign currency hedges were consistently insufficient to protect the Ansett cash flows. . .Perhaps some good will finally come of this after all in the form of returned ownership of the domestic aviation market to the Australian people. I would like to see a float of Virgin and also an effort by Qantas buy back their BA shareholding to restore some value to Australian investors. It is about time we saw a cessation of good Australian resources plundered by overseas interests with the Australian public left with the mess to clean up.
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