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Thursday, February 14, 2013

RPT-TAKEOVERCHATTER-US Airways watched American flounder, then pounced, (NYSE: LCC)

US Airways Group Inc has spent years looking for a merger partner only to be turned away and labeled the "ugly girl" amid a wave of U.S. airline industry consolidation.It finally saw an opportunity in the fall of 2011, when rumors swirled that American Airlines was in trouble.Still, US Airways was caught off guard when American's parent AMR Corp filed for bankruptcy in November that year. US Airways executives had estimated that American had enough cash to sustain operations at least through May of 2012, according to people familiar with the situation.Chief Executive Doug Parker quickly mobilized a team to devise a strategy to move on American, a much larger rival. Within about a month, Jim Millstein, a restructuring executive formerly with the U.S. Treasury, and Barclays were brought in as financial advisers, and Latham & Watkins LP was hired as legal counsel .

US Airways Group, Inc. operates and owns passenger and freight airline carrier. Shares of LCC remained unchanged at $14.66. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $6.78 and as high as $15.64. On average, 6336830 shares of LCC exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 9900.



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