If true, the rumours of a pay-freeze change the dynamics of the pension 'problem' imo.
To illustrate:
NATS employee costs for 07/08 were £356.6m of which £54.8m were pension costs.
Assuming inflation of 5% then a pay-freeze would hold nominal costs but reduce staff cost liabilities to the company in real terms by around £15m in the first year.
Compound this single years saving over the 15 years that this mou is proposed to be in force leads to a saving to the company of over £323m by 2023.
The final figure assumes an average of 5%p.a. inflation and discounts the pension cost element in the employee cost total.
I'm not knowledgeable on the subject so i'm more than happy to have my calculations dismantled but it seems to me that nats are going to fatten the goose for a takeover by drawing the pension poison and then sweetening the deal further by limiting pay deals.
Buy shares in whatever company picks up NATS off TAG.