Airline acquisitions are always difficult, especially when some of the buyers are foreigners. That was the situation in the proposed $8.7 billion buyout of Qantas. One of the buyers includes the Texas Pacific Group.
In fact, Qantas is a crown jewel of Australia (a company that has posted profits for the past 13 years -- which is certainly a big feat for an airline). So, it would make sense that the regulatory approval would be quite difficult, right?
Well, according to the Wall Street Journal [a paid service], the Australian government granted approval to the deal. True, there are some conditions, such as keeping domestic routes and not off-shoring certain types of jobs.
But, for the most part, this looks like a done deal.
Basically, as private equity firms get bigger and bigger, they need to strike deals in foreign markets. However, many countries impose stiff barriers. For example, this is the case in Europe.
But, as for Australia, it looks like things are wide open for deal-making.
Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.
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