WALL STREET JOURNAL: American Airlines parent AMR Corp. AAMRQ -2.40% and US Airways Group Inc. LCC +3.23% are hashing out the last major details of a merger agreement that would create the world’s largest airline and are racing to finalize a deal, said people close to the discussions.
If the deal is reached, the new company could have a market capitalization of more than $10 billion and would vault ahead of United Continental Holdings Inc. UAL +4.37% as the biggest U.S. airline by traffic. The all-stock deal would be executed as a reorganization plan that takes American out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
The people cautioned the merger negotiations remained fluid and could fall apart. American has resisted a deal at various points in favor of emerging from bankruptcy protection as an independent airline. Significant points of the deal, including how to split ownership of the airline and how to arrange board seats and management ranks, remain unresolved. The boards of both airlines haven’t yet convened to consider the deal, although American representatives on Wednesday discussed whether to schedule such a meeting, said a person close to the matter. It could take another couple of weeks for an agreement to be completed, the people said… (more)
