Cathay denies new PAL bid
Cathay Pacific Airways denied it had written to Philippine President Joseph Estrada seeking to resume talks on its aborted rescue bid for Philippine Airlines (PAL).
Cathay sources said Mr Estrada 'must be misinterpreting what he wants with what was in the letters we had exchanged with PAL in recent weeks prior to the decision to stop the deal'.
Mr Estrada yesterday said he had received a letter from Cathay opening the door to a resumption of negotiations.
Cathay Pacific withdrew from talks to take a controlling stake in PAL on Wednesday, blaming irreconcilable differences over management control and valuation.
'Cathay management wrote me a letter saying that they are still available for another round of negotiations, so let us not lose hope,' said Mr Estrada, adding that he was prepared to host a meeting between Cathay Pacific and PAL chairman Lucio Tan.
Cathay sources said no letters had been exchanged with PAL or Mr Estrada since the one sent earlier this week calling off the talks.
'Neither have we received any official requests from the [Philippine] parties requesting a return to negotiations yet,' one source said.
A spokesman added Cathay saw no reason to change its decision to abandon the takeover.
Andrew Herdman, chief spokesman for Cathay's parent Swire, said: 'In absence of fundamental changes to the situation, there is no reason to consider re-opening talks.' PAL - which shut down for two weeks in September after defaulting on US$2.1 billion of debt - has until December 7 to come up with an alternative to a Cathay-led restructuring, otherwise it will probably close its doors again, possibly for good.
The airline's closure would be a huge political setback for Mr Estrada, who has essentially been brokering a deal to rescue PAL.
Mr Estrada is awaiting Mr Tan's return to the country for talks.
'I'm not going to give up,' Mr Estrada added.
