KEY POINTS:
SYDNEY - It is unlikely the decision to stop the Qantas takeover will be overturned, the Australian Shareholders Association (ASA) says.
The A$11.1 ($12.5) billion takeover bid collapsed on Friday night when the private consortium, Airline Partners Association, failed to reach a 50 per cent acceptance.
Achieving that mark would have triggered a two-week extension to get the 70 per cent needed for the offer to succeed.
After the 7pm local time deadline passed, the consortium applied to the Takeovers Panel to allow a belated acceptance from a US hedge fund, which the consortium believed would allow it to claim 50.6 per cent of Qantas shares.
The panel refused to consider the late acceptance, prompting the consortium to appeal the decision and seek an urgent review.
ASA spokesman John Curry said it was unlikely the decision would be overturned.
"It's a pretty straightforward decision," Mr Curry told ABC Radio.
"The panel would need to have a lot of additional evidence, which I don't think they've got, to go against their earlier decision and to revoke the thing again."
Mr Curry said he expected hedge funds could have tipped the acceptance level over 50 per cent to make money but not to go far enough to get the ultimate 70 per cent for a takeover.
"I think a number of the hedge funds could have kicked it well over 50 per cent ... so that they then could trade the shares actively over the next two weeks," he said.
"Now the 70 per cent level was a lot harder - there has been mounting opposition over the past two or three months to the bid."
He said the current bid was probably dead in the water but he did not rule out another takeover attempt by a private consortium.
"I think there's a possibility that there will be another bid over the months ahead," Mr Curry said.
- AAP
