QANTAS being taken over by Macquarie Bank..

[Kendall Roy]

Me thinks APA should be displayed in the Qantas wiki under this section:-

Qantas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

Huh. Air NZ? Hmm. Methinks someone has something seriously wrong there or a mischievous prankster has defaced the wiki page - does anyone know anything about this?

Something seriously wrong. NZ government currently majority owns (indeed much more than simple majority) Air NZ and it is political suicide for this government to sell to a foreign consortium.

Note APA have been mentioned in some of the european airlines currently up for sale (or rumoured to be).

 

[Ikara]

I heard our venerable Geoff quoted this morning on the news as saying "that he was staying on to improve Jetstar and the Frequent Flyer programme". Why am I not holding my breath?

JB

 

[simongr]

Depends how he defines "improve" and for whose benefit

 

[oz_mark]

I heard our venerable Geoff quoted this morning on the news as saying "that he was staying on to improve Jetstar and the Frequent Flyer programme". Why am I not holding my breath?

The quotes I heard was "expanding" jetstar and "growing" the Frequent Flyer program.

 

[tuapekastar]

The quotes I heard was "expanding" jetstar and "growing" the Frequent Flyer program.

As long as he didn't use the dreaded e-word (enhance) <shudders slightly>

 

[oz_mark]

I just wonder what he means by 'growing' the Frequent Flyer program. Obviously they view Jetstar and QFF as two areas of profit growth in the company, but not much detail is available on how this would be achieved in the case of QFF.

 

[simongr]

I guess more alliance programs to sell points to.

 

[QF WP]

You know what happens when a star expands....:shock:

Here are the news storie from today:

The Qantas board has performed a spectacular backflip, raising the drawbridge on Airline Partners Australia and signalling it could repel any further advances from the private equity consortium...

Investors are betting on Airline Partners Australia - or a new bidder - having another tilt at Qantas as its farcical takeover attempt finally officially failed...

Corporate governance experts have declined to call for heads to roll on the Qantas board over the failed private equity takeover, although former CEO James Strong has been put forward as a natural successor to chairman Margaret Jackson...

Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon vowed last night to accelerate plans to revitalise the national carrier after Airline Partners Australia finally drove a stake through the heart of its $11.1billion bid...

The blame game has begun after the final collapse of the $11 billion Qantas takeover and there's plenty of it to go around, but shareholders should put the debacle in context...

 

[JohnK]

....as its farcical takeover attempt finally officially failed...

Farcical? APA was supposed to be the lifeline that QF needed to survive....

 

[simongr]

I think it was the manner of the takeover rather than th e takeover itself that is considered farcical in this context JohnK

 

[NM]

Farcical? APA was supposed to be the lifeline that QF needed to survive....

I think it may have been. But just because the bid failed does not mean it has not shaped Qantas' operations and future plans. Perhaps the failed bid has served the purpose of helping QF's long-term survival.

 

[serfty]

IMO, back around September last year the company was spotted as one that was undervalued on the share market and ripe for the plucking; $5.60 was a deal APA did with the Qantas directors; I'm sure they would have offered more if they hadn't reach agreement.

With the overall surge in the markets combined with a ¼ year dividend of 15¢, a level of shareholder sentiment (ill placed or not) and the revelation of how much money was to be made by APA meant the $5.60 became to be perceived as a very inadequate price.

So many simply held on to their shares or bought up as many as they could hoping to either participate in the APA profiterring from the takeover; either by a higher buy-out offer or simply a fat dividend.

Bottom line, $5.60 was simply not enough.

 

[Tooner]

So many simply held on to their shares or bought up as many as they could hoping to either participate in the APA profiterring from the takeover; either by a higher buy-out offer or simply a fat dividend.

Add to that the hedge funds being a bit too clever in trying to keep the bid alive (and stuffing up), and the difficulty in trying to work out who owns what shares, and it becomes an F class fiasco, or SNAFU.:!:

 

[oz_mark]

Add to that the hedge funds being a bit too clever in trying to keep the bid alive (and stuffing up), and the difficulty in trying to work out who owns what shares, and it becomes an F class fiasco, or SNAFU.:!:

The hedge funds are interesting to watch, each saying things, the others not believing what they say and trying to guess the truth. Pretty hard n these circumstances I think to just get over the 50% hurdle.

As for the Qantas board, they are charged with ensuring that Qantas does not exceed 49% foereign ownership. I still cannot find anything from them that indicates they have a clue what it is.

 

[bunyip2]

What Sweet justice to at last see Maquarie fall flat on it's face & actually loose money for a change. (Greed is Good). They only intended to split Qantas for their own quick profit & load company with debt to help pay for it & those senior management who reccomended deal knowing they would pick up a quick $100 million+ or so should resign. "Shades of John Elliot who wanted to own the company he worked for "Elders" & destoyed a great company in the process.

 

[QF WP]

Seems that the saga is still newsworthy:

Airline Partners Australia has returned all the shares it was holding in Qantas to shareholders amid speculation that it may wait until after the federal election before embarking on another takeover attempt...

There are now more than a billion reasons why the Airlines Partners Australia attempt to acquire Qantas is dead and buried and most unlikely to be resurrected...

As Airline Partners Australia continues to contemplate its next move on Qantas, Treasurer Peter Costello says he would not stand in the way of another bid before the federal election as long as it proposes predominantly Australian ownership...

It has now become obvious why the Airline Partners Australia consortium was keen to wrap up its $11.1 billion takeover bid for Qantas as quickly as possible...

 

[QF WP]

Margaret Jackson - Maj to her mates - appears to be a member of a tiny minority: those who believe she can honourably continue as chairman of Qantas...

The phone conference that began between the Qantas bidders about 11pm last Monday night was long and difficult. All day they had believed that - almost miraculously - they had managed to salvage their $11 billion deal, if not their reputations...

The contrast couldn't have been more dramatic. As Macquarie Bank hunkered down in its Pitt Street bunker this week, refusing to comment on its failed $11 bid for Qantas, airline chief Geoff Dixon was hosting an A-list event at Sydney Airport...

Some are suggesting that the collapsed Qantas bid is the biggest corporate fiasco in history, but its competition is tough...

 

[bigjobs]

IMO, back around September last year the company was spotted as one that was undervalued on the share market and ripe for the plucking; $5.60 was a deal APA did with the Qantas directors; I'm sure they would have offered more if they hadn't reach agreement.

With the overall surge in the markets combined with a ¼ year dividend of 15¢, a level of shareholder sentiment (ill placed or not) and the revelation of how much money was to be made by APA meant the $5.60 became to be perceived as a very inadequate price.

So many simply held on to their shares or bought up as many as they could hoping to either participate in the APA profiterring from the takeover; either by a higher buy-out offer or simply a fat dividend.

Bottom line, $5.60 was simply not enough.

of course $5.60 was enough ... Qantas is in a segment of the market that does not move very much regardless of what occurs in the wider market. shares fell 19% following the bid falling through ... that tells you that the offer was right. people/hedge funds mainly were greedy and too smart for their own good here. Qantas ain't that good a stock.

 

[oz_mark]

people/hedge funds mainly were greedy and too smart for their own good here. Qantas ain't that good a stock.

...or the hold-out hedgefund was more clever than they have been credit for. Time will tell on that one/