AAP To Make Take Over Bid For Qantas Airways Unconditional On 70% Shareholder Acceptance

(RTTNews) - A Consortium, Airline Partners Australia or AAP, led by Macquarie Bank (MQBKY.PK) said on Thursday its bid for the Australian airline Qantas Airways would be made unconditional if it receives acceptance from 70 percent or more Qantas shareholders. Acceptance from 90 percent of shareholders was sought earlier. Reaching the 90 per cent mark was crucial for the consortium as it would allow APA to delist Qantas and take full ownership.

The non-Executive Directors have confirmed their recommendation that Qantas shareholders accept the offer by Airline Partners Australia in the absence of a superior offer.

If the takeover is declared unconditional, AAP intends to procure that its nominees are appointed to the Board to replace all current Qantas Non-executive Directors and in such circumstances the Qantas Independent Directors would retire from the Board.

A communication to the Australian Stock Exchange by the AAP indicated that the more than 51% of the Qantas shareholders have now accepted its offer, represeting 30% of Qantas shares.

AAP stated further that Qantas will remain majority Australian owned and controlled.

The consortium has also extended the close date of the bid by 14 days to Friday, May 4.

The consortium includes private equity firm Texas Pacific Group, Allco Equity Partners and Onex Corp. (OCX.TO, ONEXF.PK).

APA director Bob Mansfield said," All the necessary regulatory clearances have been received and shareholders have been given sufficient time to assess our offer."

Source: www.nasdaq.com