Costello waiting for FIRB APA Qantas bid report.
As the Foreign Investment Review Board spell and typo checks its recommendations on the $11.1 billion takeover of Qantas, it is Peter Costello, Federal Treasurer, who will make the final decision whether the sale of Qantas is in the national interest
Media reports say that the FIRB, normally meets once a month and conducts a teleconference each week, but regarding this issue, has already held several meetings, with their opinion so market sensitive that even details of the board’s activities this week are confidential.
Mr Costello and Mr Howard have already warned about maintaining the sustainability of private equity deals, announcing a review of regulatory issues emerging with the rise of the highly geared deals, saying warning was not aimed at any specific deal, saying, “I made the point that our regulators are having a look at these issues from a systemic point of view, they are having a look at these issues from the regulatory point of view,” adding, “They will be giving us a report in relation to that and we will consider the outcome of the report once we have got it.”
Mr Costello must announce his decision within ten days of FIRB’s report, but is also understood he can extend that timeframe.
Even if the that process gives the deal the green light, Deputy Prime Minister and Transport Minister Mark Vaile can still snooker the deal as a result of a technical breach of cross-ownership laws concerning airports and airlines, with Mr Vaile having until April 3 to release the result of an investigation regarding potential conflicts created by Qantas and Sydney Airport share ownership by Macquarie Bank, with the bank’s involvement in the Airline Partners Australia, potentially breaching the Airports Act, which prohibits an airline from owning 5% of an airport.
Report by The Mole
John Alwyn-Jones
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