Mikk:
Does the boss at Q really think he is going to walk into China. I mean look at the size of some of the chinese players.
Qantas is going to be turned into slow roasted Kangaroo fillets.
This new airline will suck Qantas dry of capital - and when that is completed, and there is no more to give, they will take out the axe and cut the Australian shareholders heads off, most probably by a rights issue or share placement with a Chinese bank or airline.
You can forget the Qantas Sale Act. When the choice is between majority foreign ownership or bankruptcy, the Government will cave in. If the Government tries to refinance Qantas itself, it will be threatened that any attempt will result in the deliberate destruction of Qantas China business.
The smarties think that they will end up owning the Qantas brand. I think the Chinese will. The only thing certain is that the small Australian Qantas shareholders will get skinned alive in the transaction.
..At least that is the way I would play it. I would encourage Qantas to over invest itself in China, then when it is fully extended with its neck stretched taught, I would pull out my axe. Kerry Packer did something like this to Lloyd Williams with Melbourne's Crown Casino. There was over investment. Profits didn't quite follow, and all of a sudden there is Kerry at Lloyds side "helping" him by taking it off his hands.