US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - US Airways Sets Shareholder Meeting On Merger

US Airways shareholders will meet at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday Oct. 12 at Washington, D.C.'s Capital Hilton Hotel to vote on adoption of the merger agreement with UAL Corporation, US Airways announced today. Proxy statements currently are being mailed to all US Airways shareholders of record as of close of business Aug. 21, 2000. If the merger provided for by the merger agreement is consummated, US Airways shareholders will receive $60 per share.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/000920/dc_us_air_.html

Just a reminder- Thursday, October 12

9:30 a.m.: US Airways shareholders meet to vote on adoption of the merger agreement with UAL Corp. at the Capital Hilton Hotel.

The shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favor of the deal, with 98.7 percent of the ballots cast approving.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/business/business-usairways-me.html

US Airways Chairman Steven M. Wolf won't have to wait for a good chunk of his money. Wolf gets $22.4 million in accelerated stock options and restricted stock just for delivering the shareholder vote, even if the merger eventually falls through. US Airways President Rakesh Gangwal will receive $28.1 million under the same provision.


The payments do not include other financial benefits that are conditioned on the merger being completed. Nor does it include millions of dollars in stock options that already have vested.
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59901-2000Oct12.html

[This message has been edited by doc (edited 10-12-2000).]

The deal is still being reviewed by US and European regulators.

More than 40 million shares were voted in favor of the deal at a special US Airways shareholders meeting on Thursday. Only 619,000 shares were voted against.

US Airways chairman Stephen M. Wolf said the deal could be completed by the first of the year if it wins the approval of government regulators. The Justice Department is studying the merger and Wolf said the company met with officials there Wednesday and responded to a request for additional information on the combination.

It also still must be approved the Transportation Department, the Federal Aviation Administration and the European Commission.

Wolf declined to say whether he was optimistic about approval, but said the US Airways management is determined to see the merger completed.
http://news.airwise.com/cgi-bin/story?name=2000/10/971606935.html

Given the price of U has steadily dropped to just above the pre-merger announcement levels, it looks like the market is reading the merger wll not be approved.

As for why the majority voted in favour, why not take $60 in cash for something worth less than half that?

Well, takeover or not, todays earnings report scared lots of folks! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

It was an all-round bad day for US Airways Group Inc., whose shares dived more than 5 percent to new 52-week lows before rebounding slightly in late-day trading.
http://cbs.marketwatch.com/archive/20001018/news/current/u.htx?source=blq/yhoo&dist=yh oo (http://cbs.marketwatch.com/archive/20001018/news/current/u.htx?source=blq/yhoo&dist=yhoo)


AND: The proposed $11.6 billion acquisition by UAL Corp. of US Airways Group Inc. may fly after all - according to some analysts! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
http://web.philly.com/content/inquirer/2000/11/08/business/USAIR08.htm


AND: Far from cutting competition as many fear, such unions would have the opposite effect given the "unique dynamics of airlines networks", Clyde Prestowitz, the president of the Washington-based institute and a top Commerce Department official under President Reagan, said on Tuesday.

"The net result of consolidation appears to be an increase in competition and more choices for consumers, which is hardly the doom-and-gloom scenario that some people propose would take place," Mr Prestowitz, a trade expert and author, added in a statement.
http://news.airwise.com/stories/2000/11/973771896.html

United Airlines and US Airways spent more than USD$2.3 million in the first half of the year lobbying the federal government on issues including their proposed merger, House records show according to a Scripps Howard News Service report.
http://news.airwise.com/stories/2000/12/975794278.html

[This message has been edited by doc (edited 12-03-2000).]

While some observers have argued that the merger proposal between US Airways and United Airlines will be enhanced by this newer deal because two mega-carriers would be competing against each other, McCain sees an opposing possibility, Pialorsi said.

The TWA-American plan could confirm worries that arose over the US Airways-United proposal that mergers or acquisitions would simply spur more of the same - until only two or three airlines remain.

The House aviation panel is putting together its own hearing on the TWA-American deal.
http://news.airwise.com/stories/2001/01/980873678.html

Feb 02,2001


UAL May Have to Sell 3 Commuter Lines
Over Labor Issues if Merger Is Approved
By Susan Carey
Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

CHICAGO -- If UAL Corp.'s proposed acquisition of US Airways Group Inc. wins regulatory approval, UAL will have to persuade its United Airlines flight attendants to waive certain contractual rights or UAL may have to sell three US Air commuter airlines.

To reduce regulators' antitrust concerns, United last month agreed to sell 20% of US Air to AMR Corp.'s American Airlines for about $1.3 billion. And, when the merger was first announced last May, United said it would sell other US Air assets in Washington to a new carrier called DC Air.

Now "another transaction is likely," Jim Goodwin, chief executive of UAL, has told the Association of Flight Attendants union, but because of labor instead of antitrust concerns. He said it wouldn't be economical to fly three wholly owned US Air regional airlines -- Allegheny, Piedmont and PSA -- under the terms of the United attendants' labor contract.


http://public.wsj.com/sn/y/SB981073244986394368.html