Wirraway
8th Sep 2002, 17:54
Mon "The Australian" 9/9/02
Corpse of Ansett gives up $550m
By Michael Bachelard
September 09, 2002
A YEAR after the dramatic collapse of Ansett, the failed airline's administrators are wasting no opportunities to milk whatever money they can from the shell of the Australian airline.
So far, the concerted push to extract value from every item of Ansett has yielded more than $550 million.
Ansett's Sydney terminal, its most valuable asset, fetched $197 million, the central Melbourne head office $31 million. Also sold are the Brisbane hangar (to Qantas), the Melbourne jet base (to Virgin) and $10 million worth of plant and equipment.
Yet to be sold are the planes, but there is value to be had in all sorts of unlikely areas. Administrators charge $20,000 a pop for film crews and rock bands to shoot footage in the empty planes and terminals.
They are even trying to sell the tainted Ansett brand name, although administrator Mark Korda said he had heard nothing from Singapore airlines, who were rumoured at one stage to be seeking to revive it.
Among the bits and pieces still to be sold are Ansett's brands and trade marks, more than 100 of them. Ansett registered more than 100 brand names, among them the world trademarks for the words e-ticket and e-check in. Mr Korda is preparing a detailed document for the creditors on all these issues for September 16. He believes the remaining assets will earn up to another $350 million, making for a total of $900 million, out of which the former staff, the Government, and the administrators themselves must be paid.
Until September 16, he and partner Mark Mentha are sticking to their estimate that staff will receive 92c in the dollar for redundancy pay over and above the core entitlement of eight weeks.
The darkest cloud on the financial horizon is a case being brought by the trustees of the company's superannuation fund to elevate $200 million above other outstanding entitlements.
Mr Korda believes the dispute could drag on for up to five years and $2 million to $3 million in legal costs and if the trustees win – in the face of opposition from both administrators and staff – a portion of those entitlements could be locked up until retirement age.
Mr Korda hopes to prevent that outcome with pragmatism, recalling the $150 million compensation package from Air New Zealand which was settled in a fortnight and at that stage represented the largest such settlement in Australian history.
As for the costs of the administration, which came under fire at creditors' meetings earlier this year, Mr Korda said they would come in "substantially below" the $295 million quoted in the first report to creditors in January.
Corpse of Ansett gives up $550m
By Michael Bachelard
September 09, 2002
A YEAR after the dramatic collapse of Ansett, the failed airline's administrators are wasting no opportunities to milk whatever money they can from the shell of the Australian airline.
So far, the concerted push to extract value from every item of Ansett has yielded more than $550 million.
Ansett's Sydney terminal, its most valuable asset, fetched $197 million, the central Melbourne head office $31 million. Also sold are the Brisbane hangar (to Qantas), the Melbourne jet base (to Virgin) and $10 million worth of plant and equipment.
Yet to be sold are the planes, but there is value to be had in all sorts of unlikely areas. Administrators charge $20,000 a pop for film crews and rock bands to shoot footage in the empty planes and terminals.
They are even trying to sell the tainted Ansett brand name, although administrator Mark Korda said he had heard nothing from Singapore airlines, who were rumoured at one stage to be seeking to revive it.
Among the bits and pieces still to be sold are Ansett's brands and trade marks, more than 100 of them. Ansett registered more than 100 brand names, among them the world trademarks for the words e-ticket and e-check in. Mr Korda is preparing a detailed document for the creditors on all these issues for September 16. He believes the remaining assets will earn up to another $350 million, making for a total of $900 million, out of which the former staff, the Government, and the administrators themselves must be paid.
Until September 16, he and partner Mark Mentha are sticking to their estimate that staff will receive 92c in the dollar for redundancy pay over and above the core entitlement of eight weeks.
The darkest cloud on the financial horizon is a case being brought by the trustees of the company's superannuation fund to elevate $200 million above other outstanding entitlements.
Mr Korda believes the dispute could drag on for up to five years and $2 million to $3 million in legal costs and if the trustees win – in the face of opposition from both administrators and staff – a portion of those entitlements could be locked up until retirement age.
Mr Korda hopes to prevent that outcome with pragmatism, recalling the $150 million compensation package from Air New Zealand which was settled in a fortnight and at that stage represented the largest such settlement in Australian history.
As for the costs of the administration, which came under fire at creditors' meetings earlier this year, Mr Korda said they would come in "substantially below" the $295 million quoted in the first report to creditors in January.