IBM joins list of Ansett Australia creditors
9/19/01 12:08 AM ET
SYDNEY, Sept 19 (Reuters) - IBM Global Services Australia,
contracted to provide data management to Ansett Australia until
2007, said on Wednesday it had joined the line of creditors to
the grounded airline but continued to provide it with services.
Ansett, an Air New Zealand (AIRVA.NZ) (AIRVB.NZ)
subsidiary, was put into administration last Friday after Air
NZ wrote off its NZ$1.3 billion (US$533 million) investment in
Ansett and cut all support to what was once Australia's
second-largest domestic airline.
"IBM is a creditor," a spokeswoman for IBM Global Services
Australia (IBM GSA) told Reuters.
IBM GSA is 54.4 percent owned by IBM Australia (IBM.N), 23
percent owned by Lend Lease Global Services (LLC.AX) and 22.6
percent owned by Telstra Corp (TLS.AX).
"We did sign an outsourcing agreement over 10 years in 1997
for mid-range and mainframe services with Ansett... IBM is
meeting with the administrators but at this stage we are
continuing to provide services," she said.
Local media have put the value of the 10-year contract at
A$50 million to A$100 million (US$25 million to US$50 million).
The spokeswoman declined to confirm the contract's value.
Ansett, a former rival of Qantas Airways (QAN.AX),
collapsed with debts of A$1.5 billion to A$2.0 billion.
Administrator Mark Mentha of Andersen said Ansett's assets
amounted to about A$3 billion but estimates of assets and
liabilities remained sketchy.
(NZ$=US$0.41)
(A$=US$0.50) |
