Though The Wall Street Journal reports this morning that the board of Aussie airline Qantas unanimously rubber-stamped an $8.7 billion buyout led by Fort Worth-based Texas Pacific Group and Australia's Allco Equity Partners Ltd., BusinessWeek notes that Qantas later declared "the terms of the proposal are not acceptable." The deal has been scrubbed.
Skeptics doubted the acceptability of Texas Pacific's first $8.5 billion bid because of Australia's foreign-ownership restrictions and the need for raised thumbs from unions and the Australian-government. But Texas Pacific came back to the pot with a sweetened offer and structure that left Allco as the airline's largest shareholder, solidifying Aussie control while leaving Texas Pacific with 25 percent economic interests in the airline and less than 15 percent voting power.
Texas Pacific is apparently prowling Asia for other undervalued airline buyout targets. May we suggest this? --Mark Stuertz