TNT sold their 50% to Air NZ for $500 million, with an option to purchase the second half from Newscorp.
Rod Eddington was bought in "It's a great airline but a bad business" and did a pretty good job of restructuring and returning the airline to profit.
Newscorp then announced the sale of the second 50% to SQ
Airline saved!
SQ with enough cash to re-fleet the airline.
Air NZ then said
"Hang on - we have first dibs on Newscorp's 50%" and eventually negotiated to buy the second 50% for $530 million. Once they had managed that HUGE bite of the cherry, attempting to swallow an airline bigger than they were, they then sacked the management team Rod had just managed to put in place. Rod, understandably, resigned - leaving Ansett once again rudderless.
Air NZ then asked SQ to buy a large chunk of their stock, thus revealing that their plan in acquiring Ansett was so that THEY could get their hands on SQ's cash, as any cash for Ansett would have to flow through parent company Air NZ.
SQ reluctantly agreed (for $NZ 2.60 per share, if I recall), and Air NZ turned to Helen Clark's Labour government to get approval for the deal. The Labour government said
"Air NZ is our national carrier, and it will remain at least 50% NZ owned. As Air NZ is already 49% foreign owned, we will not approve the deal."
The share price dumped to 60c NZ, SQ pulled out, and Air NZ had to admit that they didn't have the cash to run Ansett. The September 11 attacks occurred, and Air NZ realised they could use the biggest news event of the decade to run interference with their decision to cut Ansett loose (the biggest corporate collapse in Oz history, with 13500 employees losing their jobs all on the same day.
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