Airline Partners Australia

Airline Partners Australia (APA) is a consortium that made a A$5.45 per share takeover offer for Australian airline Qantas in December 2006. The takeover offer received the endorsement of the Qantas board in the absence of a better offer, however the proposed takeover failed to gain the required level of shareholder support, despite the extension of deadlines and reduction in requirements for acceptance.

Company information

The consortium, comprising Texas Pacific Group, Macquarie Bank, Allco Finance Group, Allco Equity Partners and Onex Corporation, was structured to comply with strict Australian ownership laws for Qantas (which must be at least 51% owned by Australians).

Takeover bid

The initial proposal at $5.50 per share was rejected. The revised proposal followed negotiations with APA since the Board's rejection of its initial proposal. These negotiations resulted in the removal of unacceptable conditions and a substantial break fee as well as an increase in the price from $5.50 to $5.60 per share.

Margaret Jackson (Chairman) said the proposal provided an attractive premium for Qantas shareholders, being 33 percent higher than the closing share price of $4.20 on 6 November 2006, the day before the first speculation about the offer; and 61 percent above Qantas' volume weighted average share price of $3.48 over the six months to that date.

Under the terms of the offer, the interim dividend that would otherwise have been...
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