2008-2009 : When AF was considering taking over EasyJet
Dec 16, 2014, 1:08 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: 🇸🇬 🇭🇰 🇫🇷
Programs: Many
Posts: 4,749
2008-2009 : When AF was considering taking over EasyJet
http://www.latribune.fr/entreprises-...d-easyjet.html
At the end of 2008 - early 2009, while the price of Easyjet shares had dropped and Stelios Haji-Ioannou was clashing with the management, AFKL has thought about buying his 38% before giving up, fearing how the AFKL unions would react.
Fin 2008-début 2009, alors que l'action d'Easyjet avait chuté et que le principal actionnaire de la compagnie britannique, Stelios Haji-Ioannou, était en conflit avec la direction, Air France-KLM a étudié le rachat des 38% que Stelios détenait, avant de renoncer de peur d'embraser son corps social.
Dec 16, 2014, 1:37 am
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist, Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Somewhere between 0 and 13,000 metres high
Programs: AF/KL Life Plat, BA GGL+GfL, ALL Plat, Hilton Diam, Marriott Gold, blablablah, etc
Posts: 30,528
"And the rest is history" as they say! 
I'm glad AF did not buy U2. They would have managed to make it a much worse airline than it actually is today and the slopes of both suggest to me that U2 will increasingly have an edge over AF in years to come, sadly 
I'm glad AF did not buy U2. They would have managed to make it a much worse airline than it actually is today and the slopes of both suggest to me that U2 will increasingly have an edge over AF in years to come, sadly
Dec 16, 2014, 4:41 am
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Hong Kong, France
Programs: FB , BA Gold
Posts: 15,556
Six years ago AFKL was worth over 10 billion and Easyjet 1.5. Now it is 2.3 for AFKL and 8 for Easyjet.
Last edited by brunos; Dec 16, 2014 at 4:50 am
Dec 17, 2014, 4:38 am
#5
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2008
Programs: Everything is refundable
Posts: 3,727
To put the story into prespective, back in 2008 Lufthansa shocked the aviation world by buying a sizeable chunk of THE LCC at the time, Jet Blue.
Even true aviation experts were not really sure why LH went down that road as minority stakes in US airlines turned out be near death experiences for European airlines like BA oor SAS.
The term 'considered' is also a bit misleading, during meetings on almost any level at any airline certain things are being discussed and certain scenarios are being considered, most remain on a very superficial level, some result in an internal group digging a bit deeper (even with interns running projects), some result in an external company digging a bit deeper, but even those normally do not result in anything what could be described as close to making an offer. As we all know, the speed of management at LH is slooow, at AF the term speed even in combination with the term slow would be totally misleading.
Of course, there are many arguments for an investment, from learning the way things are being handled at a LCC to pretty solid dividends. The first lesson for AF could have been:
Should any airline buy the A318? No, No, No!
Should any airline buy the A319? Yes, Yes, Yes!
Even true aviation experts were not really sure why LH went down that road as minority stakes in US airlines turned out be near death experiences for European airlines like BA oor SAS.
The term 'considered' is also a bit misleading, during meetings on almost any level at any airline certain things are being discussed and certain scenarios are being considered, most remain on a very superficial level, some result in an internal group digging a bit deeper (even with interns running projects), some result in an external company digging a bit deeper, but even those normally do not result in anything what could be described as close to making an offer. As we all know, the speed of management at LH is slooow, at AF the term speed even in combination with the term slow would be totally misleading.
Of course, there are many arguments for an investment, from learning the way things are being handled at a LCC to pretty solid dividends. The first lesson for AF could have been:
Should any airline buy the A318? No, No, No!
Should any airline buy the A319? Yes, Yes, Yes!