| Montague S |
16th November 2008 08:40 PM |
Dixon changes his tune on the QF takeover.
now I know why I don't particularly like this guy.
Quote:
Claire Harvey
November 16, 2008 03:45pm
QANTAS boss Geoff Dixon admitted he is relieved a private-equity takeover of the airline failed last year, despite backing it at the time.
The issue was "clouded by emotion" because Qantas board members and management stood to make huge personal gains from the $11 billion deal, Mr Dixon told The Sunday Telegraph.
He had vowed to devote his $70 million cut to creating a charitable foundation.
Qantas would be in severe financial difficulty if the takeover by Airline Partners Australia had succeeded, because a key member of the consortium, Allco Finance Group, collapsed on November 4 with debts of more than $1.1 billion.
"It didn't happen, and I'm very pleased now it didn't happen," Mr Dixon said.
"It's a hard one to revisit. Still a bit raw, I think.
"The real issue I'd never repeat was having the management - myself and the management - involved in it.
"The real Achilles heel was that it got very, very emotional - principally because I and the senior management team were going to earn tens of millions of dollars as part of it.
"That's the way private equity works."
Other companies sold to private equity, such as Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd, are struggling with huge debt repayments, but Mr Dixon said it was unlikely Qantas would have collapsed - even under the weight of Allco's problems.
"If I had my time again, I'd say (to the bidding consortium): 'Yeah, this is such a good offer it should be considered, but under no circumstances should the management be offered part of it'."
Instead, the consortium would have had to negotiate after the sale to keep any of the managers and directors it wanted, Mr Dixon said.
"I think people saw us as being compromised, despite the fact it was a good offer.
"It didn't happen, and I'm very pleased now that it didn't happen."
Mr Dixon said Qantas management deserved credit for having recovered quickly from the disappointment,
"I think lesser companies and a lesser management team could have imploded. There could have been real problems," he said.
Mr Dixon's final day as chief executive will be November 28, when he will hand over to Alan Joyce at the Qantas annual general meeting in Brisbane.
He will remain at Qantas until March next year as a consultant, and is planning to work in indigenous philanthropic ventures, as well as joining the board of the Garvan Foundation.
The foundation's fund-raising for medical research has a special resonance, as Mr Dixon's wife, Dawn, has Parkinson's disease.
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http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sto...88-661,00.html |
