More news articles popping up
Article 1 - The Australian
RETAIL king Gerry Harvey and his wife Katie Page have emerged as surprise investors in a private trust controlled by a group of wealthy investors that has purchased a small stake in Qantas with a view to pushing for strategic change at the airline.
It is understood Mr Harvey and Ms Page have joined former Qantas chief Geoff Dixon, former CFO Peter Gregg, venture capitalist Mark Carnegie and adman John Singleton in buying a stake
None of those involved would comment yesterday, including Mr Harvey, but Mr Gregg told The Australian last week that the group was interested because "it saw value in the share price".
"The share price just doesn't reflect the value in the company," he said.
The group bought its stake through a private trust so it could not be detected by the airline.
And
Article 2 The Australian
Given the extraordinary coverage dedicated to 1.5 per cent of the share register, one can only assume the consortium wanted their existence known in the hope of flushing out new backers and, at the very least, a firm commitment from the 16 per cent of the register that approached the team to back them to become more activist.
The consortium was formed around May and started investing in June at about $1.15 a share so it has already gained about 12 per cent or $4.7 million.
The remaining members - Geoff Dixon, Peter Gregg, John Singleton, Gerry Harvey and Mark Carnegie - have funded their stake in part with debt so the returns would be higher. So far so goodl; they made the right call.
Qantas is angry at Geoff Dixon, alleging he is conflicted in his dual role as head of Tourism Australia and also Qantas investor. That’s a stretch because Qantas should welcome new investors. If Dixon has not raced to publicly endorse the Emirates deal then that’s hardly a crime so the undisguised anger from the Qantas camp tells you plenty about its state of mind.
The concept of former executives taking pot shots at the company is, of course, plain wrong and not fair to Alan Joyce or Leigh Clifford.
It would be a different matter if the consortium had a 5 to 10 per cent stake. It may also be different if the consortium sold its plan by stating how it would operate the airline to drum up support.