Platinum A332

The Takeovers Panel has effectively blocked the private equity consortium's takeover bid for Qantas, putting an end to the $11.1 billion deal.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/...390122833.html

perthite

Good. Let us just hope the APA terrier gets the message that this bid has been lost.

Dave Noble

They may well realise that the bid was only just lost and that a retry might well be successful

Dave

ozstamps

Dave it was not "just lost" - it failed abysmally.

It needed 70% to succeed and did not even get 50%.

The entire board I hope is forced to resign tomorrow by this total vote of non confidence in their backing of this hare brained scheme.

Their obscene $200 million payouts for playing along with these raiders will not occur, and a new board will never support such an asset stripping raid again - one would hope.

DownUnderFlyer

I think Dave is right. In deals like that you don't expect to get the full 70% when you only need 50%. If they'd achieved this, the offer would have been extended by two weeks. During those two weeks APA would have negotiated with the remaining shareholders about the acceptence.
The guy who put in his acceptence too late for example only commitet 4.96% to the offer now (just enough to get them over the 50% mark) even so he owns circa 10%.
If the deal does not go ahead the board needs to think very cleverly how to emulate some of the incentives and plans in a public Qantas. You don't want to loose the senior management team now so you better put a good plan in place for them.

ozstamps

They NEEDED 90% in order to be able to compulsorily buy out the other 10% and then rape and pillage Qantas outside the scrutiny of the ASX and the public.

A private company can do whatever they like within reason re loans and dividends to itself.

90% is what they wanted and they clearly could not get anywhere near that.

70% was Scene #2.

That also failed miserably.

If you held 10% and you knew the guys holding 50% planned an immediate obscene raping of the carcass by massive dividends and capital repayments would YOU sell out?

Nope .. you hold tight and take all the asset stripping goodies that the raiders planned to take.

You'd end up with near $5.50 cash a share from these Gordon Gecko activities and STILL hold all your shares.

Thats what has occurred here.

But they did their sums wrong which is why the yank was 'persuaded" to stump up a part of his stake to try and get his fingers into the honey hot.

No honey pot at all right now for him, APA and the directors.

What a shame. @:-)

ozstamps

And IMHO in an election year no watchdog committee is EVER going to bend the rules on appeal and allow these foreign asset strippers get hold of a national institution that clearly the public did NOT want to see sold and pillaged.

Political suicide to allow it right now.

7pm Friday EST means 7pm and if multi decade Gordon Gecko can't read a clock well too bad for him.

BiziBB

Good news.

This week will be interesting, considering the availability of PE $ and QF's improved prospects.

Will QF's management and board keep their positions and incentives?

perthite

They might come back with a retry, and they have every right to do so. However, they should let this one go, regroup and figure out what course of action to take from here.

Mwenenzi

Election Election Election. Can't see much will happen until after the election.

number_6

Hedge funds will only hold their positions in QF while there it is in play. The majority of hedge funds did not tender their shares -- while the majority of small investors did, as APA is so fond of pointing out. The hedge funds have calculated that they can get more within the next 6 months (and they would want at least 20% more). So the next bid for QF will have to be in the 15 billion range, and the often savvy hedge funds have cast the die this way. If there is no deal, the massive divestiture before year end should drive the QF share price down nicely; but there will be a deal, the numbers are too compelling.

perthite

Fun and games, and lawyers spending their weekends reading.....

From SMH: http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/...390181184.html

willyroo

It's dead.

Australia's ASIC rejects Qantas bidder application

SYDNEY, May 7 (Reuters) - Australia's corporate regulator said on Monday it had refused an application by the group bidding for Qantas Airways Ltd. over its failure to reach 50 percent acceptances for its bid.

Reuters article

And ASIC's statement.

mattm199

Does anyone have a wooden stake that we could sent in for them to hammer through the darn offer? It just won't lie down and die!

ozstamps

Not dead yet.

All in the fine print.