AirTran Holdings

AirTran Holdings (Nyse|AAI) is a Nevada corporation, based in Orlando, Florida, that operates as an airline holding company. Its primary asset is AirTran Airways.

History

After the large amount of negative publicity surrounding the Flight 592 incident, ValuJet Airlines suffered serious financial problems. On July 11, 1997, ValuJet announced it would merge with the much smaller AirWays Corp., the owner of Orlando, Florida based AirTran Airways. In November 1997, AirTran announced it would move its headquarters to Orlando from Atlanta; on November 17, 1997, AirWays Corp. and ValuJet completed their merger and the name ValuJet was dropped.

On January 6, 1999, the board of directors of AirTran announced that Joseph Leonard had been elected to the position of Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and President of the company.

On August 15, 2002, AirTran stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Proposed AirTran Holding acquisition of Midwest Air Group

In December, 2006, AirTran Holdings made public that in December 2005 it had approached the Board of Directors of Midwest Air Group -- owner of Midwest Airlines and Skyway Airlines which operates as Midwest Connect -- and had asked the board negotiate a sale of the company. That AirTran offer in 2005 was rebuffed by Midwest's board, which also rebuffed a second offer in late 2006. In December 2006, AirTran disclosed the rejection of both offers in hopes of bringing shareholder pressure on Midwest's board to reconsider, which the board recommended that shareholders reject. [cite news |url= http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20070125-0920-midwest-airtran.html |title= Midwest Board to shareholders: Reject AirTran's offer |accessdate= |format= |work=Associated Press | date = 2007-01-25 ] " [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116597376254248407.html UAL, Continental Discuss Merger As AirTran Presses Bid for Midwest] ." Carey, S.; Trottman, M.; Berman, D. K. "The Wall Street Journal". December 13, 2006.]

On December 13, 2006, AirTran announced that it had made an offer to acquire Midwest Airlines, another operator of the Boeing 717. The offer has since been rejected by the Midwest board. On January 11, 2007, AirTran sweetened its offer for Midwest to $13.25 a share from $11.25 a share, valued at US$290 million, or a 24% premium over Midwest's trading price at the time, and AirTran took its renewed bid directly to Midwest shareholders, bypassing Midwest's board of directors; with an offer that expires on April 11, 2007. On April 2, 2007 AirTran raised its bid to $15 a share, in what CEO Joe Leonard called AirTran's final bid. http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070402/midwest_airtran.html?.v=8 ]

In response to AirTran's overtures, Midwest Air Group has stated publicly that it believes that it can maximize shareholder value as a stand-alone company. Midwest Air Group has said that the latest AirTran proposal rejected by its board of directors significantly undervalued Midwest and did not reflect the long-term opportunity inherent in its strategic growth plan. The company also has reiterated that its strategic business plan will offer superior value to shareholders by capitalizing on current industry conditions while remaining true to Midwest's commitment to customer service excellence.

On January 11, 2007, AirTran Holdings increased its bid for Midwest to $345 million in cash and stock, an 18% increase from their previous offer. [" [http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=2787325 AirTran Boosts Offer for Midwest Air] ." "ABC News". January 11, 2007.]

On February 2, 2007, AirTran again raised its bid for Midwest to $389 million in cash and stock ($9 in cash and .5842 shares of AirTran stock totaling $15 a share). CEO Joe Leonard stated that this would be AirTran's final bid.

In May 2007, an independent securities expert William McGinnis, CFA, published an analysis of Board of Director responsibilities related to hostile takeover offers. He utilized the AirTran offers for Midwest Airlines as the basis for this case study which is available [http://www.wmcginnisadvisors.com/midwest.htm here] .

AirTran was successful in having its slate of 3 board members elected to the Midwest Air Group's board of directors in the election on June 14, 2007 at the Midwest annual meeting. [cite press release | title = Independent Inspectors' Preliminary Results Report Approximately 65 Percent of Shares Voted for AirTran's Slate of Directors at Midwest Annual Meeting | publisher = AirTran Airways | date =2007-06-20 | url = http://www.airtran.com/midwest/Sixtyfive_Percent_Vote_For_AirTran_Slate_06.20.07.aspx | format = | language = | accessdate = 2007-07-19| quote = ]

On August 12, 2007, it was announced that AirTran had lost the bid for Midwest. A private equity group, headed by TPG Capital and including Northwest Airlines, had purchased Midwest and will turn the airline into a privately funded company. [" [http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=645803 Midwest to go private - AirTran spurned; investors, including Northwest, make $16-a-share bid] ." "Milwaukee Journal Sentinel". August 12, 2007.]

On August 14, 2007, it was announced that AirTran had renewed their bid for Midwest at a price slightly above that of the TPG Capital offer, in theory at the request of Midwest shareholders. It should be noted that Pequot Capital Management, which owns 8.8% of Midwest, had been unhappy with the TPG Capital offer, as they felt that AirTran's cash and stock offer would result in greater gains because they felt AirTran's stock will rise in value once the acquisition of Midwest is completed. An executive at another unnamed investment group also expressed similar misgivings about the TPG Capital offer. TPG Capital's offer had been $16/share in cash, where AirTran's latest offer is $10 cash plus 0.6056 share of AirTran stock for each share of Midwest, which at the close of trading on August 13 made the value of AirTran's new offer approximately $16.25/share in cash and stock. [" [http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=646916 AirTran Circles Back - CEO says Midwest shareholders asked for sweetened bid] ." "Milwaukee Journal Sentinel" August 14, 2007]

However, Midwest announced TPG would increase its offer to $17 per share and a definitive agreement had been reached on August 16, 2007. [cite news |url= http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=648565 |title= Midwest announces agreement with TPG |work= Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | date= 2007-06-17 | accessdate = 2007-08-17]

Subsidiaries

* AirTran Airways
* Galena Corp - The servicing/support company of the Airline that was created on March 24, 1999.
* Galena Acquisition Corp - set up to acquire Midwest Air Group [cite web |url= http://google.brand.edgar-online.com/EFX_dll/EDGARpro.dll?FetchFilingHTML1?SessionID=Pv9MC4St_v54KL2&ID=5230570 |title= UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION |accessdate=2007-07-27 |format= |work= edgar]

References

External links

* [http://www.airtran.com/ Official site]