For what it's worth....
I had a very interesting lunch with a couple of MacBank fund managers yesterday. Getting the conversation around to Qantas, I was amazed to hear what they essentially were suggesting was the 'game plan' that had been doing the rounds amongst the big institutionals. The essence of it was:
* A consortium of some sort has been gathering pace for sometime, using mostly local capital. They insinuated that this had been the reason why the Abbott govt has been sitting on its hands. Said the 'Go' price was about 90cents a share, and some funds have been shorting the stock with this figure in mind.
* Chris Corrigan has been approached as a potential CEO under the consortium-led Qantas. Corrigan is currently chairman of QUBE. No surprises as to what the motive would be there.
* Regardless of the outcomes, they seemed to be of the view that Joyce's days are numbered. If Corrigan was to get the gig, Leigh Clifford would retain his board spot in a combined effort to go union-busting.
Certainly sounds like a situation that will gather pace very quickly.