tonyw
Well-Known Member
http://www.economist.com/blogs/gulliver/2008/12/so_british_airways_is_in.cfm
SO BRITISH AIRWAYS is in merger talks with Qantas. This means the British airline is busy sorting out three potential tie-ups, as it is also considering a merger with Iberia and a joint venture with American Airlines. Nobody could accuse BA's hyperactive boss, Willie Walsh, of taking the credit crunch lying down, although there are suggestions that he is raising expectations disconcertingly high.
The BA-Qantas proposal is for a “dual-listed company structure” that, by keeping the airlines as separate legal entities with their own shareholders, would skirt around restrictions on foreign ownership and thus still permit the mooted "merger of equals".
I'm with this Australian commentator when it comes to this merger. Why?
Mergers only make sense if costs can be shaved or business opportunities expanded. In this case, it is difficult to conceive of a single tangible benefit that could result from a merger between the two airlines, particularly for Qantas shareholders.
Qantas passengers often fly BA through Europe and across the Atlantic and BA passengers are found on Qantas flights in Asia and the Pacific. So the two airlines already enjoy a partnership that delivers almost all the synergies that could be expected of a merger.
Except I wouldn't use the word synergies. I'm not that much of a bunghole.
SO BRITISH AIRWAYS is in merger talks with Qantas. This means the British airline is busy sorting out three potential tie-ups, as it is also considering a merger with Iberia and a joint venture with American Airlines. Nobody could accuse BA's hyperactive boss, Willie Walsh, of taking the credit crunch lying down, although there are suggestions that he is raising expectations disconcertingly high.
The BA-Qantas proposal is for a “dual-listed company structure” that, by keeping the airlines as separate legal entities with their own shareholders, would skirt around restrictions on foreign ownership and thus still permit the mooted "merger of equals".
I'm with this Australian commentator when it comes to this merger. Why?
Mergers only make sense if costs can be shaved or business opportunities expanded. In this case, it is difficult to conceive of a single tangible benefit that could result from a merger between the two airlines, particularly for Qantas shareholders.
Qantas passengers often fly BA through Europe and across the Atlantic and BA passengers are found on Qantas flights in Asia and the Pacific. So the two airlines already enjoy a partnership that delivers almost all the synergies that could be expected of a merger.
Except I wouldn't use the word synergies. I'm not that much of a bunghole.