Newsflash!!! Stop the presses, Abe officially calls the deal off.. :blink:
Please give Grinstien a call, as I'm sure he will be thrilled with the news. And please tell all of the DL employees that they can now trash those stupid buttons, as they seem to have done the trick...
I fondly remember the days when this board required a membership in order to post. Now we have all types experts posting here......
Wow...might want to get your blood pressure checked, wings. Or at least have a drink!
Last I checked this was a message board...basically a bunch of anonymous "experts" spouting off things they may know nothing about. I never claimed to be an insider (in fact, I said I wasn't), but my "guess" is just as good as yours about what will happen.
As someone responded above, the creditors committee is comprised of 9 people/companies. They include Boeing, Pratt and Whitney, Coke, the PBGC, Alpa, 2 banks, a hedgefund, and a Fidelity mutual fund.
We know how one of these feels about Parker's plan...the DALPA MEC Chairman has come out against it. Their claim is only worth 2.1B...definitely not the largest, but not the smallest either. In any case, not enough horsepower to stop this thing from happening.
My bet/guess/prediction is that the other big players are mostly on board with Delta management. Why do I think this? Because this deal has been talked about for
months behind closed doors. Jerry and the boys knew the deal and the creditors knew the deal. Maybe not the exact numbers, but they knew Parker wanted to talk and that a merger was possible.
Instead of hitting speed dial to PHX and setting up a meeting right away, they said thanks, but no thanks. That snubbing wasn't just from Jerry for all these months, it was from the creditors committee as well.
Now this thing hits the papers because Parker is desperate. Best case scenario is that he gets a big deal and forms this huge airline (with overlapping route structures, a hodgepodge of a/c types, and with the 2 biggest hubs 250 miles apart. My 5 year old daughter could see that it doesn't make sense). Worst case (for him) is that he made it more expensive for Delta (one of his biggest competitors) to emerge from BK. It's a win/win for Parker (and a smart move IMO to try this deal...he has nothing to lose!)
The deal looks great now...some
small creditors like it, but the big ones are keeping silent so far. Why? Because they know that there will be at least one other choice...and maybe more. The one that is certain is from Grinstein and company. It will be just as good or better, and the creditors will get their cash sooner (the merger scenario will keep Delta in BK for another year or 2....The stand alone plan will have Delta out next year sometime).
Many of the big players on that committee are long term partners with Delta (Pratt/Boeing/Coke/Alpa). Delta has an all Boeing fleet with orders for dozens more in the next 3 years. Pratt and Whitney is Delta's engine of choice with almost 300 of their a/c having Pratts. Coke is based in Atlanta and has had ties to Delta for over half a century.
More importantly these big money creditors have approved of what has happened so far in this bankruptcy....they see the changes that are taking place....and they are here for long term money, not short term gains. In the end, they will choose Jerry's plan.
This is all my opinion. To repeat, I am not an insider. I'm a schmuck on a computer just like you.
It sure was fun seeing you get all worked up when I posted that the "deal is done", but please don't take this stuff too seriously. You and I don't have a say anyway. Just take a deep breath, walk to your kitchen, and mix another drink.
Cheers,
Abe
...heading for the kitchen
