Back to the Future at Qantas ?
If you have been concerned that CEO Alan Joyce has not been leading Qantas well, then you can go back to the future with the consortium that tried to sell Qantas to a private equity group just before the GFC.
Geoff Dixon – either the hero of Qantas’s heyday, or the villian for failing to deal with Qantas’s long terms problems is apparently circling again along with his old cohorts of the privatate equity push. They include former CFO Peter Gregg, venture captialist Mark Carnegie, and adman John Singleton.
So what is the answer for Qantas – deals like the one with Emirates? Investment in Asia? Privatising the Frequent Flyer scheme? A share buyback? It seems to depend on who you listen to.
It seems that the Geoff Dixon group is preparing for an influential stake in the Qantas share register to influence policy. Either that, or they are just stirring the media pot to see who will salute, and what the Qantas management will do.
More to come.
For some good coverage, see the Australian Financial Review for three articles:
- Qantas club builds rival share stake
- Perspective | The Qantas club is back
- Michael Smith | Activist group means business
Over at Plane Talking, Ben Sandilands has his usual slightly dispeptic view, – pleading a case for Qantas to have some good media coverage, while pointing out some hard facts about management ‘achievements’:
Joyce and Clifford have been strategic calamities for the airline if measured by stock price (stuffed), dividends (none) and successful strategic declarations to date (none).
Don’t miss the Sydney Morning Herald coverage which covers the issue in a bunch of articles too:
What did you say?