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In the Wall Street Journal:
Delta, TPG Assessing Bids for American Airlines Parent
Delta, TPG Assessing Bids for American Airlines Parent
Delta Air Lines Inc. and private equity firm TPG Capital are separately assessing possible bids for American Airlines parent AMR Corp., with hopes that AMR's troubles present another opportunity for airline consolidation, people familiar with the matter said.
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TPG Capital prefers to work with a strategic partner for a possible American Airlines investment, some of the people said. TPG, which has expertise in the airline industry, has approached AMR about its interest, they said.
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Delta has conducted an antitrust analysis on a possible tie-up with AMR and concluded that with some concessions, such a deal has a good chance of getting approval from regulators.
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TPG made its first investment in the airline industry in 1993 with Continental Airlines, which it helped turn around in the 1990s. TPG partner David Bonderman was chairman of Continental for a time. TPG was also a part of a consortium that tried to acquire Qantas Airways Ltd. but it didn't obtain the necessary shareholder approval for the deal in 2007.
TPG invested in America West International, which U.S. Airways Group Inc. acquired in 2005. TPG managing partner Richard Schifter was on the board of America West and was on the U.S. Airways board from 2005 to 2006.
TPG has past ties with American Airlines. In 2009, the private equity firm teamed up with AMR to possibly invest in Japan Airlines Corp. but the deal never came to fruition.