Federal Treasurer Peter Costello says that Qantas shareholders who object to the APA purchase of Qantas can simply refuse to sell their shares!
With significant and key institutional shareholders seemingly ready to trash the deal, Mr Costello said shareholders could prevent the takeover if they did not agree with it, adding that he told a “very prominent journalist” who opposed the bid to make his point by not selling the shares, “I asked him what he was doing with his shares and he said, “Oh, selling”.
I said to him, “If you don’t want the bid to go through and you are a shareholder, don’t sell them’,” and he said. “It won’t happen.”
With the APA bid conditional 90% of shareholders accepting the deal, Qantas shares continued to fall, closing Qantas yesterday doen another cent to $5.04 a share and at a 41% discount on the APA bid price.
Mr Costell told ABC radio, “If you are a shareholder in Qantas and you don’t want to sell, then nothing will change in relation to the ownership because the bidders are required to get overwhelming support before the bid will go through.”
Mr Costello also re-promised yesterday Qantas would never be majority foreign-owned while he was Treasurer, with the Qantas Sale Act already prohibiting foreign investors owning more than 49% of the airline.
Report by The Mole
