A report in The Sydney Morning Herald says that not so far back, Swiss bank UBS was front and centre in the collapse of the Qantas bid, the investment banking arm having advised the Qantas board and standing to make nearly $100 million in fees.
On the other side of the office, UBS’s asset management arm thought the deal stank and helped bring down the bid and sour reputations all around, but there are clearly no hard feelings, with UBS back safely tucked in the flying roo’s fee-lined pouch.
Word is the gnomes have scored a role clipping tickets on the airline’s $1 billion buyback and no doubt the clockmakers are calculating if they can make more clipping ticket stubs than they missed out in advisory fees.
Citibank, which sold British Airways’ stake in Qantas a few years back, is also whispered to be in the Qantas brokers’ tent.
We hear it’s safe to say Macquarie, the architect of the doomed bid, didn’t score a role.
Report by The Mole
