A Montreal company is trying to block the sale of Air Transat to Air Canada by buying 19.5 percent of Transat AT class B voting shares. Group Mach, a real estate developer, says the deal accepted by the Transat board of directors by Air Canada to buy the charter and holiday airline for $520 million, or $13 a share, undervalues Air Transat. It wants to use the voting block it’s trying to buy to vote against the sale.
Group Mach offered $14 a share to buy Air Transat earlier this year but that deal was rejected in favour of the less lucrative Air Canada offer. In this latest development, the Class B voting shares that Group Mach is seeking are trading at $11.55 so the $14 offer is a 22 percent premium. Group Mach said it’s not planning to launch a hostile takeover bid for Transat.