Company News: US Airways ups offer for Delta
US Airways isn’t giving up, but it also made clear Wednesday it won’t wait forever as it upped the ante on its hostile bid for Delta Air Lines.
The Tempe, Ariz.-based company set a Feb. 1 deadline for certain conditions to be met or its entire bid would be revoked.
“Right now, we feel very good about our chances of getting this done” despite Delta management’s opposition, US Airways Chief Executive Doug Parker said in a conference call with analysts.
His company increased the pressure on Delta’s unsecured creditors to take its buyout offer by raising the bid nearly 20 percent to $10.3 billion. Whether the deal would survive regulatory scrutiny may be the deciding factor.
With the deadline set, the ball is now in the creditors’ court.
The question is whether they want to take the money US Airways is offering and run the risk of a long regulatory fight, or stick with Delta’s plan to emerge from bankruptcy by the middle of this year as a standalone company worth $9.4 billion to $12 billion.
“Truck maker Paccar Inc., plans to build a $400 million engine factory in the southeastern U.S., allowing the company to put its own engines in its North American heavy trucks.
Bellevue-based Paccar makes trucks under the Kenworth, Peterbilt, DAF and Foden brand names. The Kenworth and Peterbilt brands, sold primarily in North America, presently run on either Cummins or Caterpillar engines; DAF trucks, mostly sold in Europe, come with Paccar engines.
Officials said the plant will make 9.2-liter and 12.9-liter diesel engines, which will be available in class-8 Kenworth and Peterbilt trucks.
“Internet auctioneer eBay Inc. is on the verge of buying the rapidly growing online ticket reseller StubHub Inc. for about $300 million in cash, according to a person close to the deal.
The acquisition could be announced later Wednesday or Thursday, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the papers sealing the deal had not yet been signed.
EBay spokesman Hani Durzy declined to comment. A call to Jeff Fluhr, StubHub’s co-founder and chief executive, wasn’t immediately returned.
San Francisco-based StubHub runs an online market for buying and selling tickets to major events — an alternative outlet that has been thriving even as its existence incensed some of the sports teams whose tickets are being resold above their face value.