U Beauty!!
As reported in the Sydney Morning Herald ---
$11.1 billion Qantas grab fails
Scott Rochfort
May 4, 2007 - 9:08PM
The proposed $11.1 billion private equity buyout for Qantas has failed.
The Airline Partners Australia (APA) consortium confirmed tonight they had only secured 46 per cent of the national carrier after a deadline for the takeover offer expired at 7pm.
The consortium needed 50 per cent of the airline for the offer of $5.45 per Qantas share to be extended another two weeks.
APA set a target of gaining acceptances of 70 per cent, after lowering its original target of 90 per cent.
Shareholder acceptances for the bid for Qantas had risen seven per cent, according to a notice lodged with the Australian Stock Exchange yesterday.
At the time, APA said it had total acceptances for 32.96 per cent of the airlines's shares, up from 25.94 per cent, as of Wednesday.
Its voting power over Qantas shares had risen to 27.78 per cent, from 17.63 per cent.
Shares held under an institutional acceptance facility - where institutions have the right to withdraw their acceptance - had fallen to 5.19 per cent from 8.31 per cent as of Wednesday.
APA was counting on a last-minute rush of acceptances from hedge funds to get the deal over the line.
- with AAP