BA pension trustees threaten to hold up Qantas merger
A Report in the UK Observer says that the trustees of British Airways’ troubled pension funds intend to hold up the proposed merger with Qantas, the Australian carrier, amid fears a deal will hamper efforts to close the £1.7bn shortfall dogging the airline’s retirement funds.
PricewaterhouseCoopers, adviser to the BA pension fund trustees, has already begun asking independent experts to scrutinise the terms of the merger – still in the earliest of stages.
“There is a concern among some of the trustees that the combined group will not be adequately capitalised to address the pension funds shortfall,” a source close to PWC said.
BA’s pension funds faced a £1.74bn shortfall in March, which is understood to have widened substantially since, as stock markets have declined by historic proportions. The March figure almost equals BA’s current stock market value.
A spokesman for the BA trustees said PWC had not been instructed to conduct any due diligence of the deal yet, but a source added the firm was likely to be asked to look at the deal before the end of the month. PWC declined to comment.
A merger between the airlines would create a carrier with 500 planes and more than 71 million passengers a year.
A Report by The Mole
John Alwyn-Jones
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