Reply #7: Delta spurns $8bn bid by US Airways and vows to go it alone [View All]

[ozymandius]

DELTA AIRLINES, the bankrupt American carrier, yesterday rejected an $8 billion (£4.2 billion) hostile takeover bid from the rival US Airways and said that it was determined to remain an independent company.

The bid, which would create the biggest transatlantic airline in the world and the No 1 US domestic carrier, came after Doug Parker, chief executive of US Airways, made two friendly approaches to Gerald Grinstein, his Delta counterpart.

Mr Parker first contacted Mr Grinstein by phone earlier this summer to sound out the idea of a merger. Mr Grinstein did not respond, and so the US Airways chief made his intentions clear in a letter dated September 29.

Mr Grinstein rejected the offer in a written response on October 17, causing Mr Parker to make public his request in a formal hostile takeover bid. The terms of the bid, and the letters between the two chiefs, were published by US Airways yesterday.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13129-2455513,00.html