Qantas Deal Crashes

Qantas Airlines will keep flying solo, after what would have been the biggest airline takeover in history fell through yesterday evening. Airline Partners Australia, the private equity consortium that offered $11.1 billion for the company, failed to secure the 50% of stock it needed to move the deal to its next stage.

The bid has faced widespread opposition. Some shareholders saw the offer as undervalued; politicians feared a nationalist backlash if the deal went through, although the consortium was led by an Australian bank. Ultimately, an American hedge fund killed the deal, after it backed out of a promise to sell 10% of Qantas's stock to APA. (More Qantas stories.)