P.M. BRIEFING : Northwest Pilots Threaten Strike if Highly Leveraged Takeover Occurs

MINNEAPOLIS — Union pilots at Northwest Airlines said today that they won’t stand for a highly leveraged takeover of the carrier, threatening to strike if excessive debt is incurred in any transaction.

“This letter is to serve notice that our concern for the long-term survival and success of Northwest Airlines must be the cornerstone of any new contract,” leaders of the 5,000-member pilots union at Northwest said in the letter addressed to all bidders and the company’s board of directors. “Excessive debt incurred in connection with any transaction involving Northwest Airlines or NWA Inc. is something we simply will not accept.”

NWA, the parent of Northwest, is the target of a bidding contest by seven suitors, some of them known bidders and others believed to be interested.

The parties are Pan Am Corp., Los Angeles financier Al Checchi, investment group Forstmann Little & Co., leveraged buyout giant Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., oil billionaire Marvin Davis, the International Assn. of Machinists and a partnership of banker Carl Pohlad and takeover specialist Irwin Jacobs.