RSS feedqantas
’Qantas flies the unfriendly skies
The dramatic decision by Qantas to ground its fleet on Saturday has ended well, so far — for passengers, at least.
The national workplace relations tribunal, Fair Work Australia, convened over the weekend and in the early hours of Monday morning gave Qantas what it was seeking:
For Skymark, superjumbo orders show super-timing
Rolls-Royce and European aircraft maker EADS are still reeling from the fallout of recent jet engine failures in their Airbus’ A380 super-jumbos (and for Rolls-Royce an additional incident on a Boeing 747),
A380 engine failure hits EADS, Rolls-Royce
Shares in European planemaker EADS fell as much as 2.5 per cent on Thursday after an Airbus A380 operated by Qantas, was forced to make an emergency landing in Singapore. It seems one of the plane’s four Rolls-Royce-manufactured engines exploded — causing the flight to be abandoned just 15 minutes after takeoff.
American Airlines raises $2.9bn
AMR, the parent of American Airlines, has struck financing accords with GE and Citigroup that will free $2.9bn in cash to help offset a slump in air-travel demand, reports the FT. Shares of the carrier jumped more than 23% on Thursday’s news,
Weekend catch-up
In case you missed these stories:
- Kirin sets sights on 49% stake in San Miguel
Kirin on Friday unveiled plans to acquire up to 49% of San Miguel Brewery in a deal that highlights the Japanese beer company’s overseas ambitions.
CDS report: Equities lead credit markets higher, Fitch downgrades Russia
European credit market indices tightened on Wednesday morning, taking their cue from firm performances in equity markets. The iTraxx Crossover index of junk rated companies was at 1050.4bp on Wednesday morning,
Qantas plans A$500m share issue
Qantas, Australia’s largest airline, is expected Wednesday to announce plans to raise at least A$500m ($326m) in a share issue to bolster its balance sheet. Details of the placement, expected to be led by UBS and Macquarie Group,
Qantas shares in trading halt
Qantas, the Australian airline, had its shares placed in a trading hold on Tuesday ahead of a “material announcement in relation to capital management initiatives”. Amid speculation about an equity issue,
BA, Qantas clashed on two key issues
British Airways and Australia’s Qantas on Thursday abandoned their ambitious plan to create a £4bn global carrier, as it emerged they had been unable to agree on the share exchange ratio each airline would command in a dual-listed structure,
BAntas dead: The autopsy
Sorry for the morbid headline. We just thought we’d add a bit more detail on the death of the BA-Qantas merger.
FT Alphaville noted yesterday that there were two major sticking points to a BA/Qantas tie-up:
BA, Qantas, RIP
British Airways and Qantas Airways have ended their merger talks, the airlines said in a statement early Thursday morning GMT.
Qantas had this to say on its website:
Qantas Airways and British Airways Plc (BA) are announcing that after detailed discussions about a potential merger of the companies,
British Airways’ pension puff
While we’re on the subject of airports, here’s a a little tidbit on British Airways’ pension deficit, sourced from a 52-page note by Citi’s airline analyst, Andrew Light:
… BA had total pension assets of £12.3bn (of which roughly £5 billion in equities) and pension liabilities of £14.0bn as of end March to give an actuarial combined deficit of £1.7bn as at last March.
Qantas cautious on BA merger talks
Merger discussions between British Airways and Qantas, the Australian flag carrier, are believed to have moved a stage further after a weekend meeting between the chief executives of the two companies,
Iberia gives BA merger ultimatum
British Airways must choose between Qantas or Iberia as its future merger partner, the chief executive of the Spanish carrier said Wednesday, adding it would be “too complex” to pursue both deals. Iberia’s Fernando Conte said he was to meet Willie Walsh,
BA explores merger with Qantas
British Airways and Qantas are exploring a potential merger that could greatly accelerate consolidation of the global airline industry. After an initial approach from Qantas, BA said it was studying a merger with the Australian flag carrier “in a dual-listed company structure”.
Lex on airline mergers
It is wise if you’re heading into air turbulence to have a parachute, notes Lex, and British Airways “has three tucked under its seat”: ongoing merger talks with Iberia, a potential tie-up with American Airlines,
Airlines face losses as Qantas shines
The head of the International Air Transport Association said that airlines globally could lose more than $6.1bn in 2008 because of high oil prices and geopolitical instability, reports the WSJ. The faltering world economy and record high oil prices have already prompted industry analysts to predict a sharp slowing in the aviation sector.
Fund manager in Qantas case quits UBS
The Australian fund manager who helped scupper the A$11.1bn ($9.1bn) Qantas buy-out has abruptly quit his job at UBS to set up on his own. Paul Fiani, the bank’s Sydney-based head of Australian equities,
Deal or no deal: why investors don’t care
As well as disregarding risk, investors are starting to ignore actual disappointment too, observes Lex. “In the current private equity frenzy, when bids fail, the share prices of the target companies barely budge,” the column says,
Qantas chairman first casualty of failed bid
Margaret Jackson, chairman of Qantas since August 2000, on Thursday became the first casualty of the failed A$11bn ($9.1bn) takeover bid for the flag-carrier, and will step down from the board when her term expires in November.
Qantas: an M&A debacle from Central Casting
If Hollywood had set out to make the private equity equivalent of what “Network” was to the broadcast media industry, it couldn’t have come close to the Pythonesque debacle over the attempted A$11.1bn (£4.6bn) Qantas buyout in Australia.
Qantas debacle: You couldn’t make this up
The consortium behind the troubled A$11.1bn (£4.6bn) buy-out of Qantas conceded defeat in its battle with Australian regulators early Tuesday after three days of high drama. Qantas shares fell more than 3 per cent to A$5.20 by 01:16GMT after trading resumed on Tuesday.
First Qantas, now Alinta: Has Macquarie met its nemesis?
Even as it floundered in the wreckage of its failed Qantas bid, Macquarie Bank raised its takeover offer for Alinta on Monday in an attempt to trump an agreed A$7.4bn ($6.7bn) bid for the Australian utility by Babcock and Brown.
Outcome of Qantas bid up in the air
The outcome of the controversial A$11.1bn ($9.2bn) bid to take Qantas private was in the balance on Monday night after it emerged that acceptances by institutions had fallen just days before the offer expires.
Qantas bid group steps up pressure
Airline Partners Australia, the Macquarie bank-led consortium bidding for Australia’s Qantas Airways, on Monday stepped up pressure on investors to accept its A$11bn ($9.1bn) offer, which will lapse it fails to secure 50 per cent support by Friday,
Macquarie buyout group eases Qantas bid conditions
A buyout group led by Macquarie Bank has eased the conditions of its bid for Qantas Airways, making it more likely the A$11.1bn ($9.2bn) takeover will succeed, reports Bloomberg.
The group, which includes TPG and Allco Equity Partners,
Fall-back plans develop around Qantas buy-out
Rising doubts about a private equity consortium’s ability to persuade hold-out shareholders to support its A$11.1bn ($8.9bn) buy-out of Qantas are fuelling speculation about its fall-back position. The strategy and financing of the buy-out bid by Airline Partners Australia consortium,
Buyout Offer for Qantas Rejected by Balanced Equity
The Macquarie Bank-led A$11.1 bn ($9bn) buyout offer for Qantas Airways has been rejected by Balanced Equity Management, a fund which holds about 4 per cent of the airline’s stock, reports Bloomberg. Balanced Equity will not accept the A$5.45 per share offer,
CDS report: The bulls are back
The bulls seem to be winning out over the bears again in the days following last week’s hefty correction in European and US credit derivatives markets as risk premiums on the indices cheapened again this morning.
Canberra clears Qantas buy-out
The controversial A$11.1bn buy-out of Qantas cleared a significant hurdle on Tuesday, when the Australian government endorsed the deal after the Macquarie-led consortium agreed to guarantee jobs and regional routes.