{"id":221434,"date":"2019-07-04T00:03:07","date_gmt":"2019-07-04T04:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=221434"},"modified":"2019-07-04T00:03:07","modified_gmt":"2019-07-04T04:03:07","slug":"quebec-developer-group-mach-out-of-running-to-buy-transat-rattling-sharehold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/07\/04\/quebec-developer-group-mach-out-of-running-to-buy-transat-rattling-sharehold\/","title":{"rendered":"Quebec developer Group Mach out of running to buy Transat, rattling sharehold"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Under the agreement, Transat shareholders will convene by Aug. 26 to vote on the Air Canada deal, valued at $520 million. Until then Transat can accept competing offers of at least $14 per share on top of a $15-million break fee for Air Canada, which could opt to match the superior bid. (File Photo<\/a>: Air Transat\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MONTREAL — Group Mach said Wednesday it is no longer in the running to buy Transat A.T., stating the tour operator chose to ignore its proposal even though it featured a higher price than Air Canada’s offer.<\/p>\n

Alfred Bugge, head of mergers and acquisitions at Group Mach, said Transat was well aware of the Quebec developer’s $14-per-share offer last week but forged ahead with an Air Canada takeover agreement priced at $13 per share.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have no intention of submitting a superior proposal as defined in the definitive agreement between the two companies,\u201d Bugge told The Canadian Press.<\/p>\n

\u201cTransat did not even take the time to communicate with us. We had no acknowledgment, no phone call, zero,\u201d he said. \u201cWhy would we submit a higher proposal again? It would be ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the agreement, Transat shareholders will convene by Aug. 26 to vote on the Air Canada deal, valued at $520 million. Until then Transat can accept competing offers of at least $14 per share on top of a $15-million break fee for Air Canada, which could opt to match the superior bid.<\/p>\n

The current deal faces legal and regulatory scrutiny along with resistance from Transat shareholders Letko, Brosseau and Associates and PenderFund Capital Management, which jointly own a 22.06 per cent stake.<\/p>\n

The withdrawal may concern some major shareholders who say Air Canada’s successful bid is too low and want more offers on the table.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe Air Canada’s offer doesn’t reflect the value of Air Transat,\u201d PenderFund portfolio manager Amar Pandya said in an email last week.<\/p>\n

Montreal-based FNC Capital and Quebecor Inc. chief executive Pierre Karl Peladeau have previously expressed interest in Transat. \u201cWe would encourage those interested parties to make a formal offer to the board of directors,\u201d Pandya said.<\/p>\n

Transat declined to comment on whether the tour operator has received other proposals since last week.<\/p>\n

Spokesman Christophe Hennebelle said then that Group Mach’s offer was technically void following the announcement of the Air Canada deal, since a condition of the Group Mach proposal was that Transat hold off on an agreement with the nation’s largest airline.<\/p>\n

The two companies announced the transaction last Thursday, which will preserve the Transat and Air Transat brands and keep the head office and key functions in Montreal.<\/p>\n

Transat shares dropped $1.10 or more than eight per cent to close at $12.39 on the Toronto Stock Exchange Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MONTREAL — Group Mach said Wednesday it is no longer in the running to buy Transat A.T., stating the tour …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":221436,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-221434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","mauthors-julien-arsenault","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221434"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":221437,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221434\/revisions\/221437"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}