Talk about a tangled web. So follow the story if you can. BA owns about 10% of Iberia. BA used to own a sizable chunk of Qantas. TPG has failed in its bid as APA to get control of Qantas. BA joined the TPG based consortium bidding for IB. IB's advisers are Goldman Sachs. Goldman raised its ownership in BA to over 5% making it the 4th largest shareholder in BA.
Got it?
OK so if we read the tealeaves (something we love to do at T2 although personally I think hot caffeine based drinks are over-rated) then there is something going on.
BA has been the target of some speculation of a PE based bid (in the old days we used to call these LBOs). Why? its that juicy cash flow - GBP 800 million a year. (That's $1.6 Billion in greenbacks). With Private Equity cash chasing just about anything that moves - BA is a good target. However its institutional investors in the City would likely harrumph a lot at this.
But you have to think that that there is some truth in all of this to BA being really in play.
Cheers
Timothy
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