New Cgi Proxy Australia

Virgin poised to take bite of Tiger's market

It wouldn't be a stretch to suggest that the pair might have had some other topics to discuss as the Singapore Airlines-backed Tiger Airways remains grounded in Australia, where it has carved out a 6 per cent market share since its entry in November 2007.

Tiger, 33 per cent owned by Singapore Airlines, is losing $1.5 million each week its planes remain grounded, and its future in Australia is in doubt.

Under the circumstances, Borghetti, who has watched as Tiger's entry to the market slashed best discount fares by 10 per cent a year, would be mad not to explore a deal with the cut-price carrier, which interestingly has directed stranded passengers to rebook with his airline.

After all, it's Virgin -- given its exposure to leisure travel -- that stands to benefit most should the environment revert to disciplined capacity growth and higher yields.

While Borghetti has been focused more on taking business travellers from Qantas, it would make sense for Virgin to operate a lower-cost service under a similar model to that run by Qantas and Jetstar.

No advanced discussions are under way and there's no certainty anything will happen, but Borghetti will certainly explore the possibility of a deal with Tiger, which after three years of losses decided in May to halt its growth plans in Australia until the operation turned profitable.

It's worth remembering that there's more than one way to skin a cat and Virgin could just end up taking over Tiger's air operating certificate without buying its fleet of 10 Airbus A320-200s.

Rebuff for CQO's troublesome trio The three hedge fund shareholders -- Orange Capital, Luxor Capital Group and Point Lobos Capital -- hold more than 19 per cent of the shares but need a majority of unitholders to back their cause at an extraordinary meeting on July 27. They want the new management to conduct a strategic review that could lead to the sale of the REIT's $1.9 billion Australian portfolio to realise value for shareholders. The only glimmer of hope for the hedge funds is that other proxy advisers such as CGI Glass Lewis side with them. However, amid speculation that there has been contact between the hedge funds and the likes of Brookfield and Colonial about a sale of their stake -- leading to a takeover of the REIT -- the other side argues they are becoming increasingly concerned they have backed themselves into a corner and will struggle to realise value from their investment in an increasingly illiquid situation. And what investors came away with was the impression ResMed was about to launch its new ventilation product in the US market through a distributor which already holds market share, meaning it will be ahead before it even launches. Analysts estimate that a 10 per cent market share would equate to about $50m in sales, which means the product would become the big kicker for the company in the 2012 financial year.