American Airlines parent company, US Airways said near merger deal
BY JEFFREY McCRACKEN, MARK SCHLANGENSTEIN and DAVID McLAUGHLIN Bloomberg News
Friday, February 08, 2013
2/08/13 at 3:53 PM
The boards of American Airlines parent AMR Corp. and US Airways Group Inc. are prepared to vote on a merger on Feb. 11 as executives and advisers work on final terms this weekend, people familiar with the matter said.
The sides have agreed that AMR’s bankruptcy creditors would get 72 percent of the equity in the new carrier, with 28 percent for US Airways shareholders, said two of the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. US Airways Chief Executive Officer Doug Parker will run the airline as AMR CEO Tom Horton becomes non-executive chairman, the person said.
Horton’s tenure in that post is still being negotiated, and will be limited to one or two years, one of the people said. AMR’s bankruptcy creditors committee is poised for a vote early next week on any merger accord, with an announcement as soon as Feb. 12, two people said.
Leadership and the division of the equity had been the final major issues in the discussions, people familiar with the talks have said. A tie-up between American, the third-largest U.S. airline, and No. 5 US Airways would create the world’s biggest carrier by passenger traffic.
American declined to comment on the deliberations, said Mike Trevino, a spokesman for the Fort Worth, Texas-based carrier. Kelly Sullivan, a US Airways spokeswoman who works for public-relations firm Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher, also declined to comment.
Jack Butler, an attorney for the creditors committee, didn’t respond to an email or phone call seeking comment.
New Stock
Besides the split of equity between AMR creditors and US Airways investors, the proposed merger calls for existing AMR stockholders to get shares in the combined company, two of the people said. Details of that plan are still being negotiated, one person said.
A group of AMR bondholders with about $1.5 billion in unsecured debt said last month it was backing a merger and pushing for an agreement by mid-February. The bondholders concluded after reviewing confidential data that a merger would provide more cost savings and other financial benefits than a stand-alone American, one person said.
US Airways, based in Tempe, Arizona, began pursuing a merger in January 2012, less than two months after AMR’s bankruptcy filing on Nov. 29, 2011.
The case is in re AMR Corp., 11-15463, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York
With assistance from Beth Jinks in New York and Mary Jane Credeur in Atlanta.
Associated Images:
The new exterior paint job of one of 196 737-800 airlplanes that American Airlines will convert, on display during a tour stop in one of the hangers at the American Airlines Maintenance and Engineering facility in Tulsa last month. MICHAEL WYKE/Tulsa World File
|
