Gregg, Dixon, Carnegie, Singo make a play on QF
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moving along..
Qantas suitors sell out, pocket millions: report
Former Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon and a group of investors agitating for change in the airline have sold their stake, netting about $18 million, a report says.
Mr Dixon, Leighton finance boss Peter Gregg, financier Mark Carnegie, ad man John Singleton, and other investors sold their reported 1.5 per cent stake in the airline's shares on January 22, The Australian Financial Review reported.
The trade of 24.9 million shares at $1.52 each, which was worth about $37.8 million, was brokered by Credit Suisse who was also the seller, the newspaper added.
The consortium had bought into the airline when Qantas' share price collapsed in June, it was reported.
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In November, Qantas severed its 40-year-partnership with Tourism Australia after saying its chairman, Mr Dixon, who ran Qantas from 2001 to 2008, was in a position of "untenable potential conflict".
The airline had wanted Mr Dixon to step down as chairman or disassociate himself from the rebel group.
In December, Virgin Australia stepped in to fill the void, increasing their current partnership to $12 million over three years
Read more: Qantas suitors sell out, pocket millions: report
Former Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon and a group of investors agitating for change in the airline have sold their stake, netting about $18 million, a report says.
Mr Dixon, Leighton finance boss Peter Gregg, financier Mark Carnegie, ad man John Singleton, and other investors sold their reported 1.5 per cent stake in the airline's shares on January 22, The Australian Financial Review reported.
The trade of 24.9 million shares at $1.52 each, which was worth about $37.8 million, was brokered by Credit Suisse who was also the seller, the newspaper added.
The consortium had bought into the airline when Qantas' share price collapsed in June, it was reported.
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In November, Qantas severed its 40-year-partnership with Tourism Australia after saying its chairman, Mr Dixon, who ran Qantas from 2001 to 2008, was in a position of "untenable potential conflict".
The airline had wanted Mr Dixon to step down as chairman or disassociate himself from the rebel group.
In December, Virgin Australia stepped in to fill the void, increasing their current partnership to $12 million over three years
Read more: Qantas suitors sell out, pocket millions: report
Qantas contras led by Dixon sell strategic stake | Plane Talking
Joyce needs to bring Qantas back into the business of nationally coordinated tourism promotion, even if Qantas can no longer claim with conviction to be the Spirit of Australia unless we mean ‘spirit’ as in ‘dead’.
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Last edited by TIMA9X; 29th Jan 2013 at 22:53. Reason: typo
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Awaiting assorted bon mots and incisive cutting edge commentary and critique from the resident self-anointed sage and soothsayer of all matters corporate and aviation related, sunfish...
Last edited by jaded boiler; 30th Jan 2013 at 08:40.
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I thought you must have been talking about Geoffrey Thomas there boiler. Everyone knows he's the expert on all things aviation. Just ask him. At least his Chairmans' Club mates think so.
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Dixon and co. certainly weren't the losers in this debacle. After talking it up, a paltry purchase of shares didn't give enough grunt to gather support from concerned institutions as they expected.
Had they received support, it would have opened the door to an even bigger trough in which to put the snouts.
They now pocket tidy little sums and turn to the next project.
Qantas survives as there's no significant or lasting damage from this, the share price is still up and Joyce and co.get on with "business".
The losers however, are the long suffering shareholders, who still won't see a dividend for years and the staff who will continue to be under a considerable amount of duress for some time to come.
Had they received support, it would have opened the door to an even bigger trough in which to put the snouts.
They now pocket tidy little sums and turn to the next project.
Qantas survives as there's no significant or lasting damage from this, the share price is still up and Joyce and co.get on with "business".
The losers however, are the long suffering shareholders, who still won't see a dividend for years and the staff who will continue to be under a considerable amount of duress for some time to come.
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Pardon my cynicism, but who released this news item? Dixon & Co? To what end? To depress the share price a bit ? To allow them to churn their shares for a 4% gain in the week to come?
An ordinary shareholder's calculus is pretty simple. Binary, even: Will the stock rise or fall. Dixon et al aren't ordinary by virtue of the size of their holding and their overweight reputation in the market. They might think the stock has no upside, or they think they might do better short term elsewhere with their finite amount of funds, or they are engaging in performance art to engineer a price dip. Next week might be revealing.
An ordinary shareholder's calculus is pretty simple. Binary, even: Will the stock rise or fall. Dixon et al aren't ordinary by virtue of the size of their holding and their overweight reputation in the market. They might think the stock has no upside, or they think they might do better short term elsewhere with their finite amount of funds, or they are engaging in performance art to engineer a price dip. Next week might be revealing.
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Pardon my cynicism
Buy a small stake in a company, let it be known that you're a ginger group with some high-profile names, allow stories to circulate about a possible coup or maybe even that numbers are being sought for something bigger, become a factor in the share price rising – and then quietly sell out for a fat profit. Nice work if you can get it and that's what the Carnegie/Dixon/Singleton/Gregg boys got with their Qantas game.
Nothing illegal about that, of course. It is not insider trading. But, in my opinion, it's reasonable to wonder if it is something rather like insider trading.
Having the Carnegie gang on the books and known to be agitating for change at Qantas certainly did the Roo's share price no harm. It has outperformed the market since the ginger group surfaced in late November.
You might think that exiting that stake – with about an $18 million profit, according to the AFR - could cause the Qantas share price to fall. And it did. From the $1.515 close on Tuesday, Qantas shares dropped three per cent to a low of $1.465 this morning before partially recovering. At lunch time, it was still off 1 per cent in a higher market.
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That's why you naturally wouldn't inform the market of any intention to sell before the action. You're not required to. You'd be silly to.
As the vendor though of such a high-profile "activist" stake, did the Carnegie crew have price-sensitive knowledge that the rest of the market did not? It's a reasonable question.
If you can build a reputation as a bit of a raider, just your name appearing on the register is enough to lift the share price and ensure a profit. Back in the wild old days of the '80s, Ron Brierley's Industrial Equity and similar souls did it regularly. Often enough, the emergence of a supposed raider's name could destabilise a company's register and trigger a bid from another party. Money for jam.
Of course, to maintain credibility, a raider needs to follow through occasionally. According to the AFR report, the 1.5 per cent Carnegie stake in Qantas was only held via certificates for difference – handy for a quick speculation, a little gamble, but an expensive way of holding stock for more than the short term. Maybe they were never really serious anyway.
The market might now wonder just how credible Carnegie and friends are the next time they pop up. Oh, that's right, they already have – as associates of Gina Rinehart on the Fairfax register.
Such games are further signs of a stock market turning bullish
Read more: Gingering up a Qantas profit
Nothing illegal about that, of course. It is not insider trading. But, in my opinion, it's reasonable to wonder if it is something rather like insider trading.
Having the Carnegie gang on the books and known to be agitating for change at Qantas certainly did the Roo's share price no harm. It has outperformed the market since the ginger group surfaced in late November.
You might think that exiting that stake – with about an $18 million profit, according to the AFR - could cause the Qantas share price to fall. And it did. From the $1.515 close on Tuesday, Qantas shares dropped three per cent to a low of $1.465 this morning before partially recovering. At lunch time, it was still off 1 per cent in a higher market.
Advertisement
That's why you naturally wouldn't inform the market of any intention to sell before the action. You're not required to. You'd be silly to.
As the vendor though of such a high-profile "activist" stake, did the Carnegie crew have price-sensitive knowledge that the rest of the market did not? It's a reasonable question.
If you can build a reputation as a bit of a raider, just your name appearing on the register is enough to lift the share price and ensure a profit. Back in the wild old days of the '80s, Ron Brierley's Industrial Equity and similar souls did it regularly. Often enough, the emergence of a supposed raider's name could destabilise a company's register and trigger a bid from another party. Money for jam.
Of course, to maintain credibility, a raider needs to follow through occasionally. According to the AFR report, the 1.5 per cent Carnegie stake in Qantas was only held via certificates for difference – handy for a quick speculation, a little gamble, but an expensive way of holding stock for more than the short term. Maybe they were never really serious anyway.
The market might now wonder just how credible Carnegie and friends are the next time they pop up. Oh, that's right, they already have – as associates of Gina Rinehart on the Fairfax register.
Such games are further signs of a stock market turning bullish
Read more: Gingering up a Qantas profit
they are engaging in performance art to engineer a price dip. Next week might be revealing.
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Sellout Timing
They sold out on the 22nd Jan.
The QF price has been pushed up by the QF share buyback.
The buyback helped them jag a profit of $18mil and Joyce helped them do it.
Money for nothing...and chicks for free
The QF price has been pushed up by the QF share buyback.
The buyback helped them jag a profit of $18mil and Joyce helped them do it.
Money for nothing...and chicks for free
Last edited by Ka.Boom; 30th Jan 2013 at 09:23.
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Possible three card trick
1) buy in, get media exposure, ramp speculation to the max, rumour goes out
2) sell out on boosted price, make little media, let someone else note it, be careful to make as small a statement as possible and in no circumstances comment about future ownership of Qantas
3) buy in on dropped price which has been further depressed by those who bought in speculating on a takeover exiting long positions etc.
Somebody should also check the options position. Often that is the area of greatest interest as it is where massive leverage can be applied and profits of multiple times (even 1000s of percent) can be made. Control a thousand shares for a hundred bucks and away you go.
1) buy in, get media exposure, ramp speculation to the max, rumour goes out
2) sell out on boosted price, make little media, let someone else note it, be careful to make as small a statement as possible and in no circumstances comment about future ownership of Qantas
3) buy in on dropped price which has been further depressed by those who bought in speculating on a takeover exiting long positions etc.
Somebody should also check the options position. Often that is the area of greatest interest as it is where massive leverage can be applied and profits of multiple times (even 1000s of percent) can be made. Control a thousand shares for a hundred bucks and away you go.
Boiler:
My only comment is that the Boyz can do it again if they wish.
Awaiting assorted bon mots and incisive cutting edge commentary and critique from the resident self-anointed sage and soothsayer of all matters corporate and aviation related, sunfish...
Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce insists that the standoff with his former mentor Geoff Dixon has not been resolved despite a group of rebel shareholders selling their stake in the airline.
Speaking in Sydney today, Mr Joyce said Mr Dixon’s conflict of interest remained because the ‘‘issues were more broader in terms of ambitions in what was going to happen in relation to Qantas’’.
Mr Joyce has demanded Mr Dixon step aside as Tourism Australia chairman or dissociate himself from the group of high-profile investors who had been agitating for a change in strategic direction at Qantas.
Qantas has made clear that it will ditch funding for Tourism Australia after June unless the group states publicly that it has given up on attempts to undermine the airline’s management.
Conflict beyond shareholding
Mr Joyce said he would not comment on who was on or not on Qantas’s share register but ‘‘as far as I was concerned the conflict didn’t relate just to the shareholding’’.
‘‘There’s a number of ways the conflict could be resolved and it is up to the
people involved in it to resolve that conflict,’’ he said, without elaborating.
Apart from Mr Dixon, the group of dissident Qantas shareholders included Sydney financier Mark Carnegie, the former Qantas executive Peter Gregg and adman John Singleton.
The consortium sold down a 1.5 per cent stake in Qantas last month for a tidy profit. As part of an agreement, each member of the group was required to sell their holdings after a decision was made to take the profits made since they bought in shortly after Qantas shares reached a low of 97 cents last year.
Tourism Australia’s chief executive, Andrew McEvoy, attended the lunch at which Mr Joyce was the guest speaker but declined to comment. The peak body’s board has backed its chairman in the bitter feud between the pair.
Mr Dixon also declined to comment.
Adapting to strong dollar
The impasse comes as Mr Joyce warned that Australian businesses will have to become accustomed to a high Australian dollar.
Coining it the ‘‘normal Australian dollar’’, he said Qantas was counting on the high currency remaining for the foreseeable future, and businesses had to ensure that their strategies were ‘‘robust enough’’ to cope.
‘‘You have to plan on that. Our ideal is that the dollar would be around 70 cents to 80 cents. It would make a big difference to the economics but you can’t count on it,’’ he said.
Qantas sees no Dreamliner delay
Despite the problems besetting Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner aircraft, Qantas has not been informed by the US manufacturer Boeing of any delays to the delivery of its first 787.
Qantas’s budget offshoot, Jetstar, is scheduled to take the keys to the group’s first 787 in August.
‘‘We do have contingencies if there are further delays in the aircraft,’’ Mr Joyce said. ‘‘We managed to cope with a four-year delay in the aircraft so far. But we want to have the aircraft as soon as possible.’’
Mr Joyce said multiple investigations were continuing into the problem but ‘‘nobody was aware of what exactly has caused it and what are the potential solutions and fixes’’.
Read more: No end to Joyce tiff with Dixon
I was told the AJ spoke to Ross Greenwood tonight on radio.
Alan Joyce | 2GB
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Those boys played everyone off a break and cleaned up.
I agree with the tone of Pascoes article, not insider trading but certainly used their media connections and names to get the stock moving. The corporate world really is a grubby place.
I agree with the tone of Pascoes article, not insider trading but certainly used their media connections and names to get the stock moving. The corporate world really is a grubby place.
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Originally Posted by adsyj
Those boys played everyone off a break and cleaned up.
I agree with the tone of Pascoes article, not insider trading but certainly used their media connections and names to get the stock moving. The corporate world really is a grubby place.
I agree with the tone of Pascoes article, not insider trading but certainly used their media connections and names to get the stock moving. The corporate world really is a grubby place.
That sum of money is peanuts for them. And even more importantly if they walk away then any future target knows they fold their hand for a very small pot. The loss of reputation is not even remotely paid for by that sum.
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The game is not yet played out.
Speaking in Sydney today, Mr Joyce said Mr Dixon’s conflict of interest remained because the ‘‘issues were more broader in terms of ambitions in what was going to happen in relation to Qantas’’.
Mr Joyce has demanded Mr Dixon step aside as Tourism Australia chairman or dissociate himself from the group of high-profile investors who had been agitating for a change in strategic direction at Qantas.
Mr Joyce has demanded Mr Dixon step aside as Tourism Australia chairman or dissociate himself from the group of high-profile investors who had been agitating for a change in strategic direction at Qantas.
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I doubt that Qantas will team up with anything VIctorian, their worldview is that nothing Australian exists outside Sydney, more particularly the harbor and beach side suburbs.
