Australian flag carrier Qantas’ offer of its 46.3 percent stake of shares in Fiji’s national airline Air Pacific is too high and certainly not worth the amount offered.
This was shared by the Attorney General and Minister for Civil Aviation, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum following Air Pacific’s announcement of its re-branding program.
Qantas in 2010 wanted to sell its shares in Air Pacific to the Fijian government for $70 million.
“Qantas made a proposal in their words which we believe is an offer two years ago and we believe that offer is too high for the value of shares,” Sayed-Khaiyum said.
Minister Sayed-Khaiyum also added that Qantas should follow provisions outlined in Air Pacific’s Article of Association, which states that any offer to sell should be formally made and should a conflict arise on the price offered, the matter should be taken to an independent arbitrator who will then appoint an independent valuer to value the proposed shares to be sold.
“The worth of the shares by way of reference, the last sale of shares in Air Pacific was in approximately early 2006, when the Solomon Islands government was selling approximately one percent of its shares in Air Pacific. They offered it to the then Fiji government who did not want to buy it. Qantas bought those shares for about $1.74 a share but Air Pacific’s financial position then was a lot better, before the $94 million loss that they had,” Sayed-Khaiyum said.
In addition, the Minister for Civil Aviation said that government wanted to make the whole process transparent to ensure both a positive and reasonable outcome.
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