57% of Midwest shareholders back Airtran

[General Lee]

By Paritosh Bansal
NEW YORK, May 17 (Reuters) - AirTran Holdings Inc. (AAI.N: Quote, Profile , Research) is expected to announce on Thursday that holders of nearly 57 percent of Midwest Air Group Inc.(MEH.A: Quote, Profile , Research) shares have backed its hostile bid for the airline, a source close to the matter said.
AirTran, the 10th largest U.S. airline by revenue, has made a hostile bid worth about $389 million for rival Midwest. Midwest's management has called the offer inadequate and encouraged shareholders to reject it.
AirTran is expected to extend the deadline for its tender offer to June 8, the source said. Its tender offer expired on Thursday and the final figure was still being counted, this person said. The airline has until Thursday morning to extend the offer.


AirTran's bid, which has been raised twice, consists of $9 in cash and 0.5842 shares of AirTran common stock for each Midwest share.

Orlando, Florida-based AirTran, parent of low-cost carrier AirTran Airways, made its initial offer worth $290 million in October and publicized it in December. It raised the offer to $345 million in January and then to $389 million in April.
Milwaukee-based Midwest has asked investors to pass on the bid and has offered a stand-alone expansion plan that calls for additional routes and fleet replacement.

© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.


Should be interesting there.


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[Kharma Police]

Maybe the company could put this kind of effort and determination into getting a contract for the pilots!

 

[ACL65PILOT]

I think that this may go through. MKE loves MidEx, but money is a lot louder than your customer base. AirTran needs to find a new base and fast. They are smart in knowing that they need to reduce their exposure in ATL. If this does not go through, then I am confident that they will up the offer again.

 

[Eagle757shark]

Now that Midwest has set its shareholder's meeting, AirTran by law will have access to the address' of all the shareholders. This will allow them to mail proxies directly to them for the upcoming shareholder meeting in June to elect the three members they are putting up for the board of directors. Having access to the address' will allow AirTran to further mail their business plan directly to the shareholders. The next 30 to 60 days will be interesting.

 

[FlyAirtran]

This should send the message to Timothy that his shareholders want him to negotiate and maybe he should open up his books for Airtran so we can estimate the actual value of the company. Very interesting!

 

[XRMEFLYER]

Can someone please edumacate me on how having three board members is going to affect or change the votes of the others who will still outnumber them and have voted unamimoulsly(I think) until now to shoot this thing down. Also, Is 57% not already enough to get this thing done? If not, how much do they need to take over?

 

[gearup5]

Is it finally time for the Midwest pilots to quit walking the fence and support this deal? I think we need the employee groups of Midwest to go along. Maybe it will also pull some of the heat off of us in the MKE press.
More opportunity, more growth, fewer RJ's. Sounds like a win for all.

p.s. I bet we could work something out with the cookies.

 

[Moustache]

Can someone please edumacate me on how having three board members is going to affect or change the votes of the others who will still outnumber them and have voted unamimoulsly(I think) until now to shoot this thing down. Also, Is 57% not already enough to get this thing done? If not, how much do they need to take over?

3 members this year, three members next election, ect, ect=
all airtran members in time

 

[ultrarunner]

Offer already extended till June 8. I would expect this deal to go through.

 

[The Victors]

Is it finally time for the Midwest pilots to quit walking the fence and support this deal? I think we need the employee groups of Midwest to go along. Maybe it will also pull some of the heat off of us in the MKE press.
More opportunity, more growth, fewer RJ's. Sounds like a win for all.

Try and name 1 airline merger in history that was ever a "win for all"