The following is an extract from John Durie's "Chanticleer" article from the back page of the Christmas edition of the Weekend Australian Financial Review.
It makes a mockery of Kevin Brown's and Geoff Dixon's claims that opposition to the deal is just a union beat up.....
OINK OINK OINK
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“How strong the backlash will be to percieved talk and no action from the government remains to be seen. But the switch in the public’s attitude in recent months is truly extraordinary.
The global and Australian economies will continue their stellar growth, and domestic corporate profits will achieve a fourth year of double-digit earnings. However, the cycle is nearer to finishing than starting.
Some say the smiling photo of Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon hugging his soon to be former chairman Margaret Jackson will one day be seen as signaling the end of an era-similar to the picture of former Time warner boss Gerald Levin hugging AOL’s Steve Case at the height of the dotcom boom.
That’s a big call, but the level of inconsistencies in the carefully crafted messages from the Qantas buy out team is enough to raise suspicion that the deal is a lot more about creating fee income and personal wealth than it is about revolutionizing the airline.
The roughly 15 per cent slumpin the share price of the biggest equity provider to the deal, Allco Equity Partners, since the deal was announced says it all and bets can be laid on how long Peter Yates keeps his job.
The deal was all laid off into offshore banking hands, some of which will find it’s way back into Australia.
Just what can be achieved in private hands that can’t as a public company remains to be seen, but having delivered his management team into the Alice in Wonderland world of private equity riches, it’s up to Dixon and his team to prove the nay-sayers wrong.”