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SYDNEY- The Airline Partners Australia (APA) consortium has dumped plans to make a fresh bid for Qantas, after its earlier A$11.1 billion ($15.35 billion) offer failed.
"APA has concluded that in the current environment and circumstances a renewed offer on terms acceptable to APA would not be likely to succeed," it said.
"On that basis APA has decided not to proceed with a renewed offer for Qantas at this time."
APA's bid effectively failed on May 4, when its offer closed without the group receiving enough acceptances to meet a 50 per cent requirement.
But the transaction was in limbo for days as APA battled to get the deal over the line and lobbied for a late acceptance of its offer by a US hedge fund to be accepted.
While it conceded last week that the A$11.1 million bid had failed, it had left open the option of coming back to market for another tilt at Qantas.
"APA thanks Qantas' board, management and employees for their professionalism during the bid process and wishes Qantas every success for the future," it said today.
The Qantas board is meeting in Melbourne today.
The APA consortium was led by Macquarie Bank Ltd and included Allco Finance Group Ltd, Allco Equity Partners Ltd, Texas Pacific of the US and Canada's Onex.
- AAP
