The offer closed Friday without Airline Partners Australia (APA) having bought the 50-per-cent stake that the regulator said would be needed to allow Australia’s largest-ever takeover bid to proceed.

APA applied to the regulator to allow it more time but was refused. It said it would appeal the decision.

“The panel has decided not to commence proceedings in relation to APA’s application,” the Takeovers Panel said in a statement.

Its decision effectively scuppers the bid.

APA, which is led by Australia’s Macquarie Bank, initially wanted to own 90 percent of Qantas but settled for 70 percent after fund managers with large holdings baulked at the offer price.

The Qantas board, which had recommended acceptance of the cash bid, has been criticized for recommending a bid that most analysts said undervalued the world’s most-profitable major airline.

Qantas’s share price is expected to plunge when market trading resumes on Monday.

The government approved the bid after APA committed to abide by rules that limit foreign ownership in Qantas to 49 percent and individual shareholdings to 25 percent. Macquarie’s major partner in APA is U.S.-based private equity fund Texas Pacific Group.

Shaw Stockbroking aviation analyst Brent Mitchell said brighter prospects for the airline industry since the opening offer had reduced the attractiveness of the APA bid.

“The global airline market has improved, especially in Australia, and that reflects increased passenger numbers and improving yields and the absence of any one-off factors that prove negative, such as terrorist activities,” he said.

The Australian share market has risen 15 percent since the takeover was proposed.

APA said it was seeking an urgent review of the regulator’s ruling.

“APA notes that a majority of Qantas shareholders (around 60 percent by number) representing more than 50 percent of Qantas shares have indicated their support for the offer,” APA said in a statement.

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