Qantas shares bounce after takeover probe

12 Jun 2012, 5:23 pm   -   Source: AAP

Qantas shares have bounced after the embattled airline announced it would monitor any takeover bids.

Qantas Airways shares have risen for the first time since May 29 after the airline confirmed it had set up an internal task force to monitor potential takeover attempts.

While Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce says there are no talks with any airline on an equity stake, news of the task force has raised speculation private equity or other parties may be targeting Qantas given its recent share price decline.

Mr Joyce said planning for all scenarios was what all good businesses did.

"All I will just say is that the company always prepares for a whole range of different scenarios," Mr Joyce told reporters on the sidelines of the International Air Transport Association's (IATA) annual general meeting in Beijing on Tuesday.

"I am not going to comment on speculation that's taking place,"

The airline has appointed Macquarie Group and set up an internal task force to monitor potential takeover attempts from other parties.

It has also engaged Citigroup to keep an eye on Qantas's share register.

Qantas shares gained 11 cents, or 10.8 per cent to $1.08 in Sydney trading on Tuesday, climbing off an all-time low of 97 cents reached last week.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a senior Qantas official said the airline feared any full takeover would result in a breakup of the its different businesses, while any investor taking a partial stake may be a destabilising force as the airline tried to negotiate a difficult operating environment.

It emerged in 2011 a group led by former Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon was looking at making a bid for the Australian flag carrier.

Mr Joyce on Tuesday said he believed the group's core businesses were worth more together than each individual component.

"Qantas as a whole I think is worth more than the sum of its parts because I think a lot of the businesses have an interaction together that is very important," he said.

Mr Joyce would not confirm or deny Qantas was in discussions with Emirates about working together on a commercial partnership, such as a codesharing arrangement, saying only the airline talked to carriers all the time about working together.

However, he said there were no talks to any airline about purchasing an equity stake in the Flying Kangaroo.

Emirates chief executive Tim Clark said he had made some initial approaches to Qantas regarding codeshare arrangement in

Oceania, an area the Dubai-based airline had "not really touched".

"Let's say we've put feelers out," Mr Clark said during a media briefing.

Mr Clark said Emirates was not interested in buying into Qantas.

Mr Joyce received a vote of confidence from the chief executive of International Airlines Group (owner of British Airways and Iberia) Willie Walsh, who said the Qantas boss was taking the right steps to address the challenges facing the business.

Mr Walsh ruled out taking an equity stake in Qantas, with whom British Airways cooperates with on flights between Australia and Europe.

*The reporter travelled to China courtesy of China Southern and IATA.

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