RichardMEL
Jan 27, 02, 9:13 am
Fox-Lew bid set for take-off
By Duncan Macfarlane
January 28, 2001
THE Fox-Lew bid for Ansett Mark II is almost certain to be accepted at a
creditors meeting tomorrow, with the largest creditor group, the former
employees, confident they will agree to a deal today.
The agreement will deliver Tesna, a company owned by
retailer Solomon Lew and trucking magnate Lindsay Fox,
at least 2000 votes at the creditors' meeting and up to
$700 million worth of votes by value.
"The strong expectation among union people is that an
agreement will be signed tomorrow and they will vote for
the proposal at the meeting on Tuesday," a spokesman
for the ACTU said yesterday.
The agreement between the ACTU and Tesna was
expected to be signed last week but was delayed
because of a disagreement over which assets of Ansett
Mark II would be signed over as security for workers'
entitlements.
A spokesman for administrator Mark Mentha said he had
not wavered in his intention to have the ballot decided by a show of hands on
the floor of Vodafone Arena in Melbourne, despite the opposition of some
creditors.
The show-of-hands vote would give a decisive advantage to the ACTU, which
expects 2000 members to attend out of a total of 5000.
Diners Club, which represents 10,000 people with frequent flyer points valued at
$140 million, plans to call a poll on the proposal.
A poll would bring proxies into play and force the administrator to achieve a
majority of votes by both numbers of creditors and credit value to pass the
motion.
The ACTU spokesman said calling a poll would merely delay the outcome and
that, with $700 million in debts, the former employees dominated the $3 billion
debtors pool by value as well as numbers.
Last Thursday, the administrator extended the deadline for submitting
documentation for the creditors meeting from 4pm Thursday until 10am
tomorrow following threats of legal action from Diners Club.
Many of its members had complained of difficulties in faxing the forms to the
administrator or accessing the proxy forms on the Ansett website or the Ansett
administrator telephone hotline.
A further hurdle for Ansett Mark II seems set to be cleared next week when the
Civil Aviation Safety Authority will decide whether to transfer Ansett's Air
Operator's Certificate to Ansett Mark II.
Key staff members met yesterday to consider the progress of the review.
"It is running on schedule and it will be completed on Wednesday or Thursday,"
a spokesman for CASA said.
Ansett Mark II is scheduled to start flying on Thursday.
------------------
RichardMEL, UA 1K
A Star Alliance Member.
By Duncan Macfarlane
January 28, 2001
THE Fox-Lew bid for Ansett Mark II is almost certain to be accepted at a
creditors meeting tomorrow, with the largest creditor group, the former
employees, confident they will agree to a deal today.
The agreement will deliver Tesna, a company owned by
retailer Solomon Lew and trucking magnate Lindsay Fox,
at least 2000 votes at the creditors' meeting and up to
$700 million worth of votes by value.
"The strong expectation among union people is that an
agreement will be signed tomorrow and they will vote for
the proposal at the meeting on Tuesday," a spokesman
for the ACTU said yesterday.
The agreement between the ACTU and Tesna was
expected to be signed last week but was delayed
because of a disagreement over which assets of Ansett
Mark II would be signed over as security for workers'
entitlements.
A spokesman for administrator Mark Mentha said he had
not wavered in his intention to have the ballot decided by a show of hands on
the floor of Vodafone Arena in Melbourne, despite the opposition of some
creditors.
The show-of-hands vote would give a decisive advantage to the ACTU, which
expects 2000 members to attend out of a total of 5000.
Diners Club, which represents 10,000 people with frequent flyer points valued at
$140 million, plans to call a poll on the proposal.
A poll would bring proxies into play and force the administrator to achieve a
majority of votes by both numbers of creditors and credit value to pass the
motion.
The ACTU spokesman said calling a poll would merely delay the outcome and
that, with $700 million in debts, the former employees dominated the $3 billion
debtors pool by value as well as numbers.
Last Thursday, the administrator extended the deadline for submitting
documentation for the creditors meeting from 4pm Thursday until 10am
tomorrow following threats of legal action from Diners Club.
Many of its members had complained of difficulties in faxing the forms to the
administrator or accessing the proxy forms on the Ansett website or the Ansett
administrator telephone hotline.
A further hurdle for Ansett Mark II seems set to be cleared next week when the
Civil Aviation Safety Authority will decide whether to transfer Ansett's Air
Operator's Certificate to Ansett Mark II.
Key staff members met yesterday to consider the progress of the review.
"It is running on schedule and it will be completed on Wednesday or Thursday,"
a spokesman for CASA said.
Ansett Mark II is scheduled to start flying on Thursday.
------------------
RichardMEL, UA 1K
A Star Alliance Member.