Vaile shrugs off Qantas debt fears
February 14, 2007
THE Federal Government is not worried about the massive amount of debt needed by private equity consortium Airline Partners Australia (APA) to successfully buy Qantas, Transport Minister Mark Vaile has said.
APA has offered $11 billion for the flying kangaroo with the bid now being examined by the Foreign Investment Review Board because some of the consortium's members are North American private equity groups.
Mr Vaile says the indebtedness of the consortium is not something for the Government to examine.
"It is (not), I don't believe, the Government's job to tell private sector organisations or the financial institutions what's an appropriate level of debt," Mr Vaile has said.
His comments contrast to those of his backbench colleague and former transport minister John Anderson who says the indebtedness of the consortium means the bid could fail to met the national interest.
Mr Vaile admitted it was possible the airline could go bust if the buyout was successful and the aviation industry was then hit with a crisis.
"That's not something we'd like to countenance," Mr Vaile has said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes, well, I bet if Mr. Vaile's job was on the line, he would like to countenance THAT!!
Essentially he is saying that the possibility of the Company getting into financial difficulty is a real possibility, considering the amount of debt we will carry, and if that is the case, then...well...stiff bikkies. But hey, let's not mention the war, shall we?
How can we as taxpayers keep supporting these clowns
