SYDNEY, May 5: A multi-billion dollar takeover offer for Qantas was dramatically resurrected on Saturday just hours after the bidders conceded defeat, although analysts said regulators may yet quash the late reprieve.

The consortium behind the A$11.1 billion bid said last-minute support from a large investor had edged shareholder acceptances for the deal over the threshold needed to stop it collapsing.

It was a major turnaround for private equity consortium Airline Partners Australia (APA), which said late Friday that not enough shareholders supported its six-month campaign to win control of the iconic Australian airline.

“However, subsequently on Friday, APA received an acceptance from a large investor, which would be sufficient to take acceptances for Qantas shares to more than 50 per cent,” APA said in a statement.

APA said the unnamed investor’s votes took shareholder acceptances to 50.6pc, just above the 50 per cent level needed to extend the bid for two weeks.

The bid's fate now rests on whether Australia's Takeovers Panel sanctions the late acceptance, which came after a 0900 GMT Friday deadline.

A positive response would give APA two weeks’ to try to take shareholder acceptances up to 70 per cent, the level needed to finalise the on-again, off-again takeover, although analysts remain sceptical of its long-term prospects.

BBY analyst Fabian Babich said Qantas shares should be suspended until the issue with the regulator was resolved.

“As the situation stands now, it would be inappropriate for Qantas shares to be traded,” he told Sky News.

A Qantas board meeting on Saturday to discuss the saga’s latest developments did not clarify the situation, with directors simply saying they would issue a statement to the market before trading commenced Monday.

The early rejection of the bid would have been a major embarrassment for the board, which unanimously backed the takeover, believed to be the largest ever private equity bid for an airline.

Chairwoman Margaret Jackson said in March that the airline would be dangerously “destabilised” and its share price would plummet if the bid was rejected.—AFP