Amid the merger fervor gripping the struggling airline industry, at least one deal won’t happen: the much-talked-about $6.4 billion merger between British Airways and Qantas Airways Ltd. is off, apparently derailed by questions of ownership structure and other complications, according to Bloomberg and a joint statement.
On the bright side, it’s not like BA’s outside counsel at Sullivan & Cromwell and Slaughter and May are going to be struggling to find deal work. The British carrier, valued at $3.1 billion, is still pursuing a merger with the Spanish carrier Iberia and a possible three-way joint venture with Iberia and American Airlines to split up flights between Europe and North America.
