One hug for Jackson causes end of the road
A report by Alan Kohler on ABC’s Inside Business says that one of the factors cited as a cause of Margaret Jackson’s resignation as chairman of Qantas this week was that hug with CEO Geoff Dixon at the press conference announcing the takeover bid from Airline Partners Australia (APA).
Kohler goes on to say that it was a bit over the top, adding, that looking on was APA spokesman Bob Mansfield, looking a bit like the cat that swallowed the cream.
He adds, “but it takes two to hug. And there’s no calls for the huggee to quit. Or was he the hugger?” “It was a bit hard to tell”.
Kohler adds, “Now it’s true that Geoff Dixon didn’t go a step further and slag off the shareholders who weren’t accepting the offer, as Margaret Jackson was seen to do, but he was certainly as enthusiastic in his support of the bid as his Chairman.”
“And he had more reasons to be enthusiastic, in fact.”
“Margaret Jackson was passing on the chair, presumably to Bob Mansfield, so she didn’t have a personal stake in what happened.”
“But not only was Geoff Dixon central to the consortium’s plans, he and the other managers were getting $100 million worth of stock.” “Group hugs.”
“There was nothing wrong with the board’s recommendation in favour of the APA bid, with the bid price $2 more than the market price, $1 over the independent valuation and what’s more, most shareholders showed they thought it was a good price by selling for less to hedge funds.”
“I think the real question to be answered, by Geoff Dixon rather than Margaret Jackson, is how come the share price was so low for so long and how come he could make the company worth almost double under private equity ownership what it was as a public company? “
“Geoff Dixon must now do for the shareholders who have not sold what he was going to do for the new ones who were going to load the company with all that debt – so much debt that he was hugging those around with excitement at the idea of it.”
A Report by The Mole from material by Alan Kohler and the ABC
John Alwyn-Jones
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