Tiger Battles with ACCC

Tiger Airways is in a battle with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission after the ACCC said it can either approve or disapprove the bid of Virgin Airways to purchase a 60-erpcent stake in Tiger.

Tiger Australia said Virgin Australia is the only one that can help turn the struggling business around. The company added that if the ACCC rejects Virgin’s proposal, Tiger will not seek new investors.

Tiger believes that Virgin is the right partner and that it would strengthen the company. It added that it does not see any other investor that would be able to provide operational synergies to build and enhance the company’s competitiveness.

Tiger also said no investor would be able to achieve the company’s objective of turning around the Australian operations.

The ACCC has earlier said the decision to approve Virgin’s proposal can go either way. Virgin Australia is bidding $35 million for Tiger. The reservation of the ACCC is because of the possibility of Australia being an airline duopoly.

The ACCC, however, remains conscious that rejecting the deal may result to closing Tiger’s operations in Australia. Industry analysts echo the same sentiment, saying that Tiger Australia is at risk of closing down its operations.

Reports indicate that Tiger Australian suffered from a loss of more than $216 million since it started in 2007.