Qantas was sold today at 0000z

[gchriste]

News this morning is Qantas has reportedly been sold to a private equity form after last night initially rejecting the offer. 10c more per share and less conditions seems to have won the board over.

http://www.news.com.au/business/story/0,23636,20925324-462,00.html

[Ejector]

QF has been sold by to the Macquaire bid for $5.60AUD per share. :D

[blackwidow]

A listed company is not sold, just like that...:eek:

Needs approval from shareholders, but more info as attached..:)

http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/qantas-accepts-revised-11b-bid/2006/12/13/1165685752755.html

[3 Holer]

Correct black widow. It is now up to the Qantas board to sell their recommendation (accept Airline Partners Australia's offer) to the shareholders.
At $5.60 a share and all the usual trimmings, I can't see the sale not going through. Interesting times ahead now for QF with Rod Eddington & David Turnbull heading up one of the Companys' involved in the buy out. This (http://www.news.com.au/business/story/0,23636,20926326-31037,00.html) only came through 45 minutes ago.

[visibility3miles]

Seems like a done deal to me...

Qantas Accepts $8.64B Takeover Offer
Wednesday December 13, 10:07 pm ET
Qantas Accepts $8.64 Billion Takeover Offer From Private Equity Consortium

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Qantas Airways said Thursday it had accepted an $8.64 billion (Australian dollars 11.1 billion) takeover offer from a private equity consortium including Australia's Macquarie Bank and the Texas Pacific Group.

Qantas Chairman Margaret Jackson said the board had unanimously agreed to recommend to shareholders that they accept the offer of 5.60 Australian dollars ($4.40) a share from the consortium.

The announcement follows Qantas rejection on Wednesday of the consortium's offer of 5.50 Australian dollars a share.

Jackson said in a statement the new offer included the removal of unacceptable conditions, including a break fee payable to the consortium if the deal fell through because of government regulations or a lack of shareholder support.

"It is a very momentous and exciting day for Qantas," Jackson said at a news conference later.

She said the bid price was 33 percent higher than Qantas shares were trading at before takeover speculation began in early November.

"The directors believe this offer allows Qantas shareholders to realize significant value for their shares that has not been fully recognized in the public market," she said.

The board's recommendation is subject to an opinion from an independent expert that the offer is fair and reasonable. Another condition is that 90 percent of Qantas shareholders must approve the deal, Qantas said.

Jackson said that under the deal, Qantas would remain Australian-owned.

Bob Mansfield, the director of the consortium, called Airline Partners Australia, said it supported Qantas' existing management and its plans for large capital expenditure.

"Qantas would retain the current Australian management and their growth strategy, a strategy that does not involve a break up of the airline, cuts to regional services or the movement of maintenance operations offshore," Mansfield said.

The Australian Stock Exchange had earlier suspended Qantas trading, at the request of the company. Qantas stock plunged 2.68 percent Wednesday to 5.09 Australian dollars on the rejection of the offer.

Australian finance company Allco is the biggest player in the consortium through Allco Equity Partners, which has 35 percent of voting rights, and Allco Finance Group, with 11 percent. Macquarie has around 15 percent.

Foreign investors are Texas Pacific Group with less than 15 percent, Canada's Onex Corp., with 9 percent, and unnamed other foreign investment funds, with less than 15 percent.

No single international investor would hold more than 15 percent, and in total foreign investors would hold less than 40 percent.

Mansfield said the consortium believed the bid complied with all Australian laws, and members would gladly meet with the government to explain it in detail.

Prime Minister John Howard said his government will keep an eye on the takeover to ensure it meets the country's foreign-ownership caps, set as part of the 1995 privatization of the Sydney-based airline.

"We are going to watch it, but we are not going to take sides," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. "It is a matter for the shareholders, but the laws will need to be complied with."

The limits set foreign-ownership of Qantas at 49 percent, with each foreign individual allowed to hold a maximum 25 percent of shares. The bidding consortium said it plans to stay within those restrictions, with Onex and Texas Pacific Group together holding less than 40 percent.

Howard said Australian laws would not be changed to accommodate the takeover, which he hoped would be in the airline's best interest.

"I hope the Qantas we know is the Qantas we keep," he said. "People like Qantas, it is an icon."

The 86-year-old Qantas has suffered in recent years from soaring oil prices, but remains one of the few profitable global carriers amid stiff competition and widespread fear among travelers of terrorist attacks and health risks such as SARS and bird flu.

[gb777]

Singapore Air, the world's second-largest carrier by market value, climbed 30 cents, or 1.8 percent, to S$16.70, the highest since Dec. 14, 2000.

The carrier's request to fly between Australia and the U.S., the so-called Trans-Pacific route, has been repeatedly rejected by Australia in a bid to shield Qantas, Australia's largest airline.

``There are no grounds whatsoever to maintain the protection of Qantas on the Pacific route,'' said Stephen Forshaw, a spokesman for Singapore Air. ``Today's decision by Qantas to accept the transfer of ownership to a private consortium removes any remote possibility that protection of Qantas had some 'national interest' attached to it.''


(Part of a Bloomberg article)

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601084&sid=amszqySB6oz8&refer=stocks


The cards are being reshuffled....

[helen-damnation]

Ekcellent :}

Emirates will now get the extra flights they have been looking for :D

More Oz trips for me :ok: :E

[Basil]

David Turnbull heading up one of the Companys
Hold the peanuts :}

[skippychick]

The sale of QF to an Americal firm is a great dissapointment to the Australians. QF - an Australian owed Airline is a strong global symbol of all that is Australian and something we are very proud of.

QF shares have not been doing great things for years (sitting on about $3.50) despite the fact that the airline is well run and doing OK in a very diffucult business. Macquaire Bank has paid a generous $5.50 per share so the shareholders have made a killing.

This leaves QF in a vunerable position. Potentially, Maquarie Bank could now strip the costs out of the airline, load it up with debt and then run another float where they will profit. It's commonly known as 'pump and dump'. The takeover of QF could end in tears - exactly as it did when the highly profitable and successful Ansett Airlines was sold a few years ago, leaving the poor staff with shattered livlihoods. Where is Ansett now?

There should be laws out there to protect companies from preditors that 'pump and dump'. Are they then accountable when it all goes pear shaped? Something tells me not. Maybe there are? Complicated issue. Opinons please? :{

[DX Wombat]

Thought you might like to see the email which was sent to me as a Frequent Flyer.
The Qantas Board has decided to recommend that shareholders accept an offer for their shares from a private consortium, Airline Partners Australia (APA) consisting of Allco Equity Partners, Allco Finance Group, Macquarie Bank and offshore investors including TPG and Onex at a price of $5.60 per share.

A media release with details of the bid is available at qantas.com

Qantas management is committed to a strong future for the Group and to working with the APA partners, who have valuable expertise both in aviation and business development, to position Qantas for the future.

Under the APA proposal, Qantas will remain majority Australian-owned.

Qantas' prospective new owners recognise that Qantas is one of the most valued brands in Australia, embodying safety and service through 86 years of private, public and government ownership.

APA has said it is committed to partnering with the current management team on existing strategies, and has endorsed the aircraft and product investment program Qantas has in place.

Whether the bid is successful will be dependent on the consortium acquiring 90 per cent of all shares in the company - a process that will take until the end of February 2007.

It is business as usual at Qantas, with no changes currently planned to any area of the business, including the Qantas Frequent Flyer program, as a result of APA's bid.

[CSilvera]

"This leaves QF in a vunerable position. Potentially, Maquarie Bank could now strip the costs out of the airline, load it up with debt and then run another float where they will profit. It's commonly known as 'pump and dump'. The takeover of QF could end in tears - exactly as it did when the highly profitable and successful Ansett Airlines was sold a few years ago, leaving the poor staff with shattered livlihoods. Where is Ansett now?

There should be laws out there to protect companies from preditors that 'pump and dump'. Are they then accountable when it all goes pear shaped? Something tells me not. Maybe there are? Complicated issue. Opinons please?"
If you think the shares are going to do well, buy some! If you think as an employee you're going to be fired, start looking for another job now! Regulating the free market leads to socialism--and that's not good for any body, investors or employees. Incidentally, this is not what "pump and dump" means. Pump and dump is the spreading of rumors about a stock to make people think that it's hot, selling shares when it goes up, and leaving the investors with worthless stock. It's normally only done with thinkly traded "penny" stock. I think there is too much disclosure of Qantas business for pump and dump to apply here.

[PAXboy]

Regular (UK) pax here and, sadly, with harsh words. These words are based on watching people trading companies and working in commerce for nearly 30 years.

Firstly, it is true that the image of an airline as representing the nation and being something that all can look to with pride - is a myth that persists in the modern day. But this is no longer the case and they are just a commodity to be traded as much as a nationwide chain of garages that specialise in tyres and exhaust fitting.

Secondly, there are no rules to prevent open trade that meets the rules for disclosure. All governments of a Western style democracy have decided to allow it's people to trade anything. Even when there are restrictions (armaments) those restrictions are only cosmetic.

Lastly, any promises made by seller or purchaser are to be treated with extreme caution. If, in a few months time when the sale has gone through (as it almost certainly will) your management start saying things like, "Your jobs are safe" then it is almost certainly time to look for a new job. If an aquiring company has malign intent to asset strip the purchased company - you will not know until it is already too late.

It will be another two years before you really know what story they are telling. By that time it will be known whether they looked after the customer and therefore looked after the company in the long term, or if they chose to look after the shareholders (themselves) in the short term. If you are able, take a bet either way.

Sorry to have to say such harsh words.

[Wizofoz]

exactly as it did when the highly profitable and successful Ansett Airlines

Say what? It wasn't remotley "Highly profitable" at any time during the 12 years I worked there. In fact, it was a classic case of how a company set up under protectionist, regulated policies couldn't compete in the real world.

QANTAS is a public company, there to make money for its' shareholders, not a sheltered workshop to provide employment or an Aussie PR vehicle to fly the flag and "Be an icon". It will sink or swim based on the economic realities it operates under.

[skippychick]

Thanks for opinions which is exactly what I was seeking. Not to be attacked! Obviously there are those of you out there that may have greater knowledge of the subject, hence this post. As menitoned on the original post, if there is more positive feedback on this matter that's good news. Thanks