KEY POINTS:
Air New Zealand will not make any changes to its strategy after the Qantas ownership change, chief executive Rob Fyfe says.
On Thursday Qantas directors decided to recommend an A$11.1 billion ($12.6 billion) takeover bid from a consortium led by Macquarie Bank and United States private equity firm Texas Pacific Group.
Qantas shareholders will get A$5.60 a share, up from an initial bid of A$5.50.
Fyfe said he did not expect a new ownership structure for Qantas would significantly change the competitive environment for Air New Zealand.
The high price being paid did imply the new owners saw an opportunity to create more value with Qantas than it was creating now.
That might put some pressure on it to accelerate its growth strategy, but it did not mean the strategy would change.
"It has been critical to the new owners to retain the current management team," Fyfe said. "That team has a very well thought-through strategy."
Qantas was seeking to expand in Asia.
"It very much wants to be a regional player rather than just an Australasian player."
There was some potential for the transtasman route to be affected, but Air New Zealand already had that route under review, Fyfe said.
New Zealand's domestic market was small, and dominated by Air New Zealand.
"So if you are trying to create additional value, I'm not sure you'd want to go into a war of attrition in the New Zealand domestic market. I think there would be other places you'd focus your attention."
The Qantas bid has pushed Air New Zealand's share price up, although the airline is not a takeover target because it is 82 per cent owned by the Government.
Its shares closed up 4c at $1.80 yesterday.
Aviation industry experts have also said they do not believe the ownership change will have a huge effect on competition in New Zealand on the transtasman route.
Qantas and Air New Zealand last month ditched plans to share transtasman operations after they were rejected by regulators.
Forsyth Barr aviation analyst Rob Mercer said the New Zealand domestic and the transtasman routes would be low on the list of routes the new owners were likely to target for growth.
He said Qantas also risked pushing Air New Zealand into an alliance with other airlines if it took a hostile approach.
