The proposed merger of US Airways Group Inc. and America West Holdings Corp. has received a new pledge of $150 million from an investment firm, the Wall Street Journal reported on its Web Site on Sunday.
According to the newspaper, which obtained the information from a filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Alexandria, Virginia, Boston-based Wellington Management Co LLP pledged $150 million in new equity to the combined company. Wellington has $423 billion of funds under management, the Journal said.
The total pledges for the new company now total about $500 million, the report added.
On May 19, US Airways and America West announced plans to merge in order to compete more aggressively with low-cost rivals. The airline would become the sixth largest domestic carrier as measured by passenger revenue, and would use the US Airways name. The combined carrier would also fly internationally.
U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Stephen Mitchell is expected to grant a motion on Tuesday to set guidelines for other investors to make offers that compete with the merger plan, the newspaper reported.
The companies currently employ 43,000 people and operate roughly 400 aircraft combined.
Key investors to the deal include ACE Aviation Holdings Inc., Air Canada's parent, and Boston's PAR Capital Management. General Electric Co. will take back planes and Airbus will provide a $250 million loan in exchange for being the A350 launch customer. (MSNBC is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC, which is a GE company.)
