British Airways (BA) abandoned on Monday its takeover plans for rival carrier Iberia, leaving a rival group of Spanish investors unopposed in their bid to take over Spain's biggest airline.
British Airways had made an informal approach for Iberia with a group of private equity groups including Texas Pacific Group, but earlier this month a group of Spanish investors unveiled proposals for a higher offer.
A statement from the BA-led consortium sent to the Spanish market regulator CNMV on Monday said: "We have decided to withdraw our indication of interest in the company."
On Nov. 15, the Spanish investors led by private equity group Gala Capital unveiled a rival informal offer priced at 3.60 euros to 3.90 euros per Iberia share, valuing Iberia at up to 3.7 billion euros (US$5.4 billion).
This compared with the offer of 3.60 euros a share presented by the British Airways consortium.
British Airways' share price dropped 4.63 percent to close at 329.75 pence on London's FTSE 100 on Monday, with investors speculating that the airline was set to abandon the chase.
Earlier, BA had said it had decided not to exercise options to acquire an extra 14 percent stake in Iberia, a clear indication that it did not plan to pursue its takeover plans.
It already owns 9.95 percent.
While BA is seen as wanting to spread its wings across the Latin American market, analysts have also suggested that the British airline is looking to grow to fend off a possible takeover itself.
British Airways is also facing increased competition after EU transport ministers early this year cleared plans to free up transatlantic routes between Europe and the US.
Iberia was privatized in 2001 and is the leading carrier linking Europe and Latin America, accounting for 18.7 percent of the market.
Spanish logistics company Logista said last week it would sell its 6.7 percent stake in Iberia, while BBVA, Spain's second-largest bank, said it would also offload its 7.3 percent stake.
Spanish savings bank Caja Madrid has exercised an option to buy the stakes belonging to Logista and BBVA, but will not form part of the Gala Capital consortium.
British Airways chief financial officer Keith Williams said in a statement earlier on Monday that "British Airways' position as Iberia's key industrial partner remains important and is not dependent on an increase in shareholding."
As well as BA, Caja Madrid, BBVA and Logista, Iberia's other key shareholder is Spanish department store owner El Corte Ingles.
"We will enter into discussions with Caja Madrid in order to maximize the value of our relationship with Iberia," Williams said.
Under a preemption agreement signed in 1999, if any of the core shareholders in Iberia wants to sell their shares, the remaining core shareholders have the right to buy, BA said.
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
Democracies must remain united in the face of a shifting geopolitical landscape, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Tuesday, while emphasizing the importance of Taiwan’s security to the world. “Taiwan’s security is essential to regional stability and to defending democratic values amid mounting authoritarianism,” Tsai said at the annual forum in the Danish capital. Noting a “new geopolitical landscape” in which global trade and security face “uncertainty and unpredictability,” Tsai said that democracies must remain united and be more committed to building up resilience together in the face of challenges. Resilience “allows us to absorb shocks, adapt under
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it is building nine new advanced wafer manufacturing and packaging factories this year, accelerating its expansion amid strong demand for high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The chipmaker built on average five factories per year from 2021 to last year and three from 2017 to 2020, TSMC vice president of advanced technology and mask engineering T.S. Chang (張宗生) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Hsinchu City. “We are quickening our pace even faster in 2025. We plan to build nine new factories, including eight wafer fabrication plants and one advanced
RSS