QANTAS being taken over by Macquarie Bank..

[PaulZ]

How long by law does APA have to wait to come back with another offer ?
I read it was 1 month ??
And whats everyones opinion here, do you think APA will come back with a higher offer of around the $6.50ish mark ??

Whether or not they come back will depend on how the feeling out of institutions goes. They will have to go to them and see what they are willing to accept. The only way i reckon they come back is if they can secure 20% from institutions before making the offer public. That way they would be more likely to suceed.

Don't quote me... But i was under the understanding that they had to wait six months to make another offer. I could be wrong.

 

[HardieBoys]

Bid's off, as APA failed to get their hands on 50% of QAN shares by 19:00 Friday 4 May. Now the interesting part happens. What will happen to Margaret and Geoff?

 

[PaulZ]

Bid's off, as APA failed to get their hands on 50% of QAN shares by 19:00 Friday 4 May. Now the interesting part happens. What will happen to Margaret and Geoff?

Nothing... Geoff has publicly declined to resign, saying his employment is a matter for the board.


I don't think that the main executive team will get the sack - none of them.

For them to get the sack, the institutions, who control the majority of the company, would have to replace them with a more experienced and successful team than currently exists. If that was possible, they would already be there?!?!

I wouldn't be surprised if they called a special general meeting, resign and offer themselves up for reelection, and be re-elected with only a small dissent from smaller shareholders.

Afterall, they have done a pretty good job at running the business. (in my opinion)

At the time they accepted the deal (in December) it probably did look good to them. The independent expert thought so as well. It is the period between then and now, when the market was up something like 15% that things looked a tad bad.

We have to remember that whilst APA were going to get a sweet deal and cheap buy, the market has never really valued Qantas appropriately. They have, in recent years, traded between a band of $2.75 - $4.00.

While many will call for a spill of the board and senior management, all that will do is cause chaos and will negatively impact on the business..

 

[JohnK]

I think we will see Mr Dixon and Ms Jackson down at the Centrelink cue on Monday morning .

I hope you are very happy. Qantas is in safe Australian hands for now....

 

[JohnK]

Fantastic news!!!!

I think I said from the beginning that the offer was too low and it needed to be between $6.00 and $7.00 per share for the bid to be successful.

I am now ready to buy some QAN shares between $4.00-$5.00 next week and if another offer eventuates then I may make a slight profit. Honestly I hope QAN remains a public company and most Australians benefit from it.

 

[macca172]

James Strong will be back, trust me!

 

[Mal]

It's back on!

Qantas bid's shock revival | The Courier-Mail

``However, subsequently on Friday, APA received an acceptance from a large investor, which would be sufficient to take acceptances for Qantas shares to more than 50 per cent.

``APA intends to make submissions to the Takeovers Panel to allow the offer to continue.''

APA said the late support took acceptances to a majority of 50.6 per cent of Qantas shares, accepted on behalf of 58 per cent of all Qantas shareholders.

 

[tuapekastar]

Well, the terrier that is APA just won't let go. An 'after-the-deadline' acceptance has pushed them to 50.6%, and they are 'appealing' to the Takeover Board to let them continue on their merry way. (I hope they get knocked back).

From The Age

Qantas bid hangs in balance

The $11.1 billion takeover bid for Australian carrier Qantas hung in the balance today, and may still continue after all.
The Airline Partners Australia (APA) consortium last night all but conceded defeat in the bid, announcing it appeared to have failed to reach the 50 per cent level required to extend the offer.
But APA said early today that a late acceptance from a large investor meant it intended to press ahead with the bid....

Link to the full story here

 

[Shano]

The deadline has been well documented and publicised, so the late acceptance should not be accepted.

More hedging by the hedge funds perhaps

 

[Kendall Roy]

It's amazing how they can get away with playing games like this.

Why conclude defeat when you're not 100% sure.

 

[Mal]

It's amazing how they can get away with playing games like this.

Why conclude defeat when you're not 100% sure.

Why does circus music start playing in my head when I think of this buyout?

Is there any precedent for this to be approved? I would have thought they'd have to go back and restart the whole process again. (which is of course possible!)

 

[turtlemichael]

The deadline has been well documented and publicised, so the late acceptance should not be accepted.

More hedging by the hedge funds perhaps

Why shouldn't it be accepted late given that this exercise has been a lesson in dodgy governance from the beginning? The independence and advice of directors who stand to gain fortunes, the apparent skirting of the 51% rule, the irrelevance of the needs of the employees and the public, the fact that what ever happens now Qantas will be decimated, the erosion of public confidence in the system and so on. Acceptance a couple of hours late just fits within the pattern. But I still hope the Takeover Panel says get nicked!

 

[Kendall Roy]

Hey... They bribed the Board..... Who says they can't bribe the Takeover Panel....

 

[Ikara]

To use the vernacular...........The fat lady ain't sung yet!

JB

 

[turtlemichael]

To use the vernacular...........The fat lady ain't sung yet!

JB

If you have a look at who/what the Takeovers Panel is, according to The Australian, then she is certainly practicing her scales at the moment.

The Takeovers Panel is a business group given powers by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission to resolve disputes on takeovers.

 

[QF WP]

From a legal standpoint the offer closed and there was no offer and acceptance in the given timeframe. The terms and conditions were well known to all - each and every offer to shareholders had it plastered over the front page.

More information on the Takeovers Panel and the possible members of any sequestered Panel. I would think those members who are employed by Macquarie Bank would be disqualified from sitting on the Panel in this matter. The role of the Panel is here

I would hope they would find that the offer had legally closed and the late arrival was outside the terms and conditions of the offer, thus failing in it's intent. For APA this would require them to revive a new (altered) bid - perhaps with a fairer price (not that it would make me sell to them - I'd rather be a minority shareholder).

 

[PaulZ]

From a legal standpoint the offer closed and there was no offer and acceptance in the given timeframe. The terms and conditions were well known to all - each and every offer to shareholders had it plastered over the front page.

I would hope they would find that the offer had legally closed and the late arrival was outside the terms and conditions of the offer, thus failing in it's intent. For APA this would require them to revive a new (altered) bid - perhaps with a fairer price (not that it would make me sell to them - I'd rather be a minority shareholder).

I agree with you Lindsay and hope the Takeovers Panel Rejects APA's ludicrous attempt to keep the bid alive.

What i don't understand is why APA hasn't realised that their takeover was and is dead?? If the institutions and hedge funds wanted to accept the offer at the current bid price, APA would have received, by Friday, in excess of the 70% required to make the offer unconditional, and so everyone is paid within five business days.
It make no sense for them to hold out another two weeks if they are planning on accepting - the price cannot go up and they have to wait in excess of three more weeks to get their money. When you are talking about hundreds of millions of dollars a day here and there does make a difference.

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

It make no sense for them to hold out another two weeks if they are planning on accepting - the price cannot go up

Ah, but they can buy more at a rate below the bid to onsell to APA.

 

[PaulZ]

Ah, but they can buy more at a rate below the bid to onsell to APA.

But if they were simply in it for the small margin involved ... Would they DARE RISK the bid failing by not making sure that APA was going to get over the 50% line?

I don't think they are all that incompetent.

 

[oz_mark]

I would hope that the takeover panels enforces the deadline, I think to do otherwise could se a bad precendent and send the wrong signals. There is enough shonky maneuvering around during takeovers without intoriducing flexible deadlines.

I am intrigued about how the late acceptance came about.