Aimia pays off $322 million of debt, now debt-free after asset sale

By Devika Patel

Knoxville, Tenn., March 28 – Aimia Inc. paid off all of its debt using $322 million garnered from its $497 million January sale of the Aeroplan loyalty program to Air Canada.

“While we will no longer own the Aeroplan business. The completion of the Aeroplan sale was a good outcome for our stakeholders and the right thing to do for a total consideration of $497 million, leaving us debt-free with $600 million of available cash on the balance sheet and a further $100 million of restricted cash,” chief executive officer Jeremy Rabe said on the company’s fourth quarter and year ended Dec. 31, 2018 earnings conference call on Thursday.

The Montreal-based company also said it plans to focus on becoming a consolidator in loyalty and travel, rather than its previous mission as a marketing and loyalty analytics company. The debt-free balance sheet will help the company establish itself.

“The Aeroplan transaction has left us with a strong balance sheet that becomes a significant asset as Aimia embarks on a new strategy,” chief financial officer Mark Grafton said on the call.

“The $497 million of proceeds we received from the Aeroplan sale left us with a debt-free pro forma balance sheet reflecting cash and investments of $600 million and restricted cash of $129 million after the repayment of $322 million of financial indebtedness,” Grafton said.

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