Air Canada to Buy Air Transat for $520 Million

Air Canada has entered into an exclusive agreement to purchase Air Transat.

The flag-carrier hopes the proposed transaction, valued at approximately $520 million or $13 per share, will create a Montreal-based global travel services company in leisure, tourism and travel distribution.

Air Canada said it had all the necessary funding required to complete the transaction which is, accordingly, not subject to financing conditions.

The news comes at the end of a busy week for Canadian aviation, with WestJet earlier confirming plans to go private in a $5 billion deal with Onex Corporation.

The Air Canada transaction remains subject to the finalization of definitive agreements, confirmatory due diligence, regulatory and shareholder approvals and other closing conditions usual in this type of transaction.

Since 2012, Air Canada has launched 35 new routes from Montréal-Trudeau to global markets including Shanghai, Beijing, Tokyo, Tel Aviv, Lima, Sao Paulo, and Casablanca.

This growth has allowed Montreal to rank amongst the top 50 most internationally connected cities in the world and to become one of the largest North American hubs.