News sources in Australia are reporting that the Qantas Airways board has reversed its initial rejection of a take-over bid after the consortium leading the raid improved the non-cash part of the offer.
Qantas received the much anticipated take-over offer today, but today publicly rejected it. Both quality daily newspapers in Sydney, The Australian and the Sydney Morning Herald are reporting the airline to be on the verge of publicly reversing this opposition.
The consortium making the bid, Airline Partners Australia, which is led by Allco Finance Group and Australia’s Macquarie Bank , is understood to have sweetened the bid in the interim. Overseas partners including Texas Pacific Group and Onex, have a combined stake of less than 40%.
A A$5.50/share offer values the Australian airline group at A$11 billion ($14 billion) and represents a 5-10% premium over its current share price. It is reported that this cash price has not been altered but the terms and conditions have.
Earlier reports stated the Qantas board was holding out for an extra 10¢ per share. All "close source" quoted claim to be confident of an overnight deal.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
