NWA Discloses Checchi, Union Also Made Bids

NWA Inc., the parent of Northwest Airlines, has received takeover offers from Los Angeles financier Alfred A. Checchi and from Northwest’s machinists union, bringing the number of known bidders to four.

Details about the bids were not disclosed. As previously reported, NWA has also received bids from Pan Am Corp. and Los Angeles billionaire Marvin Davis.

NWA, based in Eagan, Minn., is the fourth-largest U.S. airline and has a strong Pacific route system and valuable real estate in Japan. It has been for sale since late March, when Davis offered $90 a share for the company. In rejecting Davis’ offer, NWA said it would explore alternatives for the company--including a sale--to enhance “shareholder value.”

NWA shares closed Wednesday at $107.375, up 12.5 cents in trading on the New York Stock Exchange. At that price, NWA would cost about $3.2 billion to acquire.

In a press release, International Assn. of Machinists & Aerospace Workers District 143 said it made a “proposal” concerning the airline to NWA’s board. The union said its proposal would reward shareholders while “providing increased level of security to employees, consumers and the communities in which Northwest operates.”

Line’s Largest Union

Jim Conley, a spokesman for the machinists in Washington, said he could not provide details about the proposal but that it is a “buyout proposal.” In the past, the machinists have said they might finance an offer with borrowed funds and with savings from reduced labor costs.

With 22,000 members employed by Northwest, the machinists are the airline’s largest union. It was not clear Wednesday whether the airline’s other unionized workers would support the machinists’ bid. Kirk Faupol, co-chairman of Northwest’s 5,000-member pilots union, said pilots are not inclined to give concessions. “We’re not looking for wage cuts, regardless of whether there’s employee ownership involved,” he said.

The machinists union has tried to buy an airline only once before. In 1985, the machinists, along with pilots and flight attendants, offered to buy Eastern Airlines. But the employee group was outbid by Frank Lorenzo, the chairman of Texas Air, which acquired Eastern in 1986. Strikebound Eastern is now involved in bankruptcy proceedings.