Australia's Qantas Airways agreed today to a sweetened $8.7 billion buyout offer from a group led by Macquarie Bank and private equity firm Texas Pacific Group in the world's biggest airline takeover.
The sale of the national icon, dubbed the flying kangaroo, has stirred nationalistic sentiment and reached the top levels of Australian politics, prompting the bidding group to stress that the airline would remain majority Australian-owned.
However, Prime Minister John Howard signalled the government was unlikely to interfere in any change of hands of the airline, founded 86 years ago in outback Queensland as an air taxi service.
"I hope that the Qantas we know is the Qantas we keep. People like Qantas. It is an icon. That doesn't mean to say its shares can't change hands," Mr Howard said.
The offer tops an $8.6 billion bid for bankrupt Delta Airlines by US Airways Group in November, and would be the biggest private equity buyout in Asia, outside of Japan, if approved by shareholders early next year.
It coincides with a wave of consolidation talk across the industry, including recent merger talks between UAL parent of United Airlines, and Continental Airlines.