US Airways – Delta Merger Update

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US Airways – Delta Merger Update: December 11, 2007

US Airways sweetens offer for Delta by 20%

Whether the sweetened bid from US Airways will be enough to win the support of two-thirds of Delta's creditors isn't clear. But airline bond analyst Roger King at CreditSights, a credit research firm, said he's betting that more than a third of Delta's creditors will support the new US Airways bid. That's enough, he noted, to block Delta management's plan to emerge from Chapter 11 as an independent airline.

"Their stand-alone plan is dead-on-arrival as a result of this new offer from US Airways," King says.

That doesn't mean US Airways' richer offer will win the support of the two-thirds of Delta creditors needed to win the bidding war, he added. A third bidder — possibly Northwest, United or perhaps even a group of hedge funds, banks and private equity investors — could enter the picture, he said.

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US Airways Raises Bid For Delta to $10.2 Billion - Congressional concerns about the merger prompted Parker to visit a dozen legislators on Capitol Hill this week

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US Airways Lifts Delta offer

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Delta's Future Just Got Trickier - US Airways' sweetened offer puts pressure on Delta to do a deal

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A sweetened deal and a deadline

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US Airways bid may aid Cincinnati, Takeover would increase local Delta traffic - Some US Airways flights connecting in Pittsburgh would be rerouted through Cincinnati

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Excerpt from today’s Wall Street Journal

Today the WSJ reported Gordon Bethune met with Delta executives late last week to review their standalone plan, and then with the Delta creditors committee at yesterday's meeting. People who have met with Mr. Bethune in recent days say he has indicted he thinks a Delta merger with US Airways makes sense and could win antitrust approval from U.S. regulators.

The sweetened (US Airways) offer was well received by Delta creditors, said one person familiar with the creditors' reaction. "It's a significant increase in value that changes the dynamic," this person said. Creditors now plan to pressure Delta to consider opening its books to US Airways as well as other potential bidders, this person said.

His presence already is having an impact on the Delta matter. At a three-hour meeting with US Airways executives in New York on Monday, the notoriously blunt consultant urged the airline to put forth its best offer for creditors to review, according to people who were in the meeting or briefed on it.

Yesterday US Airways raised its bid early in the morning ahead of a regularly scheduled Delta creditors meeting (that Mr. Bethune attended).

Mr. Parker said Mr. Bethune's arrival in the process is like a breath of fresh air. "Frankly, it was refreshing to present (the merger plan) to someone who really understands how this works. We had a nice dialogue," he said of the meeting with Mr. Bethune.

"I have been a proponent of stabilizing the industry by consolidating," Bethune said. "The barrier to consolidation has been as much testosterone as it is the government," referring to airline executives who can't decide which CEO and management teams will run the combined airline. "Somebody's got to leave. That's always a big impediment to consolidation," he said.

Regards,

USA320Pilot
 
US Airways – Delta Merger Update: December 11, 2007

He said some US Airways flights connecting in Pittsburgh would be rerouted through CVG. In late 2005, Delta slashed about 160 flights at CVG - cutting seating capacity by 26 percent - to realign supply with demand.


Like there are any connecting flights left in Pittsburgh.

Boy, did Kirby do a good job of blowing sunshine up the you-know-what of this gullible reporter.