Something in the air

Just the facts, ma'am....

In 2005, Air Canada's parent company, ACE, sold 12.5 percent of its Aeroplan frequent flyer program via an IPO, raising C$ 250 million.  This means that at that time, Aeroplan was valued at $2.0 billion*.

Subsequently ACE divested itself of the rest of its ownership in Aeroplan, leaving the program solely owned by Aimia Inc. Aeroplan continued to be Air Canada's frequent flyer program while also expanding into a more general loyalty rewards scheme.

In May 2017 Air Canada announced it would be leaving Aeroplan in 2020 in order to start a frequent flyer program of its own.

Earlier this month Aimia announced it was looking to start offering flights of its own to Aeroplan customers once Air Canada left the program.

On July 25 Air Canada along with three financial partners announced a bid to buy 100 percent of Aeroplan for a total cash consideration of....$250 million.  The buyers would also assume the liability represented by the outstanding frequent flyer points, notionally valued at a further $2 billion.  Aimia has until August 2 -- i.e. one week -- to respond to the offer.

I'm sure there's a story here somewhere.

*  If you're going to start by saying "Just the facts, ma'am" it behooves you to get the facts straight.  Thanks to arithmetical incompetence, I originally stated the total value of Aeroplan as $1.5 billion.  Mi dispiace.