BA/Iberia merger into IAG- The first days........

The early days of a merger are always fascinating as the previous tribes adjust,-or fail to adjust,-to their new circumstances and the fact that those not in the overall new group are, despite earlier outward protestations to the contrary, no longer in true control of their own destiny. The penny or peseta can take a while to drop that from here on the brands will have to have their plans approved by the group and that they are competing between themselves for money and resources. The media take a while to catch up too. There are still statements that IAG is owned 55% by BA and 45%by Iberia.Not so. These two entities, now brands, own nothing. The moment trading in IAG shares began the SHAREHOLDERS of BA,not BA itself, owned 55 % of IAG and similarly those who had previously held Iberia shares owned 45%. From that second onwards and trading was under way in London and Madrid, it was irrelevant how the shares' previous owners had come by them. BA and Iberia as separate standalone financial entities with shareholders were dead and gone and had in themselves no stake in IAG.

Two weeks into the marriage is far too early to make any judgments but we can make some pretty fair judgments of what is likely to have been going on in the respective head offices of the new IAG itself at Heathrow and the two brands' lairs, just two miles away in the case of BA and 1,000 miles away in the case of Iberia. Of the two, the Iberia contingent is probably the happier as they have the benefit of time and distance. BA people are far too close and therefore more likely to experience "help from Head Office" and invitations to "come along over".

On day 1 the two new top managment teams in both the BA and Iberia brands will have come in early, eased themselves into their seats with a feelings of pride or relief, and hopefully all ready to set off at a brisk trot. They now had their hands on the controls ,-or so they thought. Real life in mergers is seldom like that though.

Over at the HQ of the merged group those selected from both companies to lead the whole entity will also have slipped into their seats with a sense of pride and probably exhilaration. From having been at the top of just one company they are now at the top of another, pretty much twice the size. This is heady stuff. Having bagged their desks, put out their array of pens,parked their laptops, found where the secretaries, loos, coffee machines etc are, they will have found themselves wondering quite what to do. The phones won't have been ringing,-at least not from their former places of work,-the filing cabinets and new laptops' memories will be empty. Where to start then? Well, of course the answer is easy,- start hassling the two supposedly standalone brands for reports, statistics, plans, budgets, business cases explanations and the rest of corporate detrius. So stand by at (BA) Waterside and (IB) Madrid to fight your corners and use the words "back off" or similar, although even those have something of the Canute about them. At least those in Madrid have a slightly better chance,- " Allo? Very bad line this. Sorry. Click". Good luck to all concerned wherever you are.