Australopithicus:
My take is that the funds invested by Qantas were more than the mooted 99 million each. There was no disclosure from the Chinese partners about their funding sources, for example. I have heard it whispered that Qantas issued non-recourse loans to their Chinese partners to fund their share.
This latest revelation about China Southern loaning more cash to JQ HK leads me to cynically expect that that debt will be the senior secured debt. If Qantas escapes only losing its initial cash injection I will be amaaaaaaaazed.
Indeed, senior secured debt. China Southern is buying Jetstar HK assets for pennies in the dollar. Make no mistake, Qantas will shortly have to write off its entire investment in Asia.
What really annoys me is the amount of wasted Board and management time and energy on a project that anyone with any experience of Asian trade knew was always a fools errand.