Varcoe: Major international airlines buy stake in WestJet, amid 'transition year' for Calgary-based airline
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On Friday, Onex Corp., which bought the country's second-largest air carrier for $5 billion in 2019 and took it private, announced the sale of 25 per cent of WestJet to two large international airlines.
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Delta and Korean Air have both been both code-share partners with WestJet for more than a decade, and the two international carriers are part of the Skyteam Airline Alliance. The deal will still see Onex, one of the country's largest private equity players, retain 75 per cent of WestJet.
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'It's the best possible outcome for the company,' WestJet CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech said Friday in an interview.
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'It just solidifies the partnerships that we have and gives all the incentive on both sides, all sides, to grow these partnerships, which would be beneficial for our part, for our customers.'
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Under the agreement, Delta also intends to sell a 2.3 per cent interest in WestJet to Air France-KLM for US$50 million.
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'It's not terribly surprising that it happened,' said industry analyst Chris Murray of ATB Capital Markets.
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'Onex certainly is getting closer and closer and closer to the point where they're going to want to think about exiting their ownership of WestJet . . . For private equity sponsors, generally, there's a certain period of time between when they make an investment and when they start to divest.'
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During a conference call on Friday, Onex CEO Bobby Le Blanc called the transaction a 'strong positive statement on WestJet's strategy' and its ability to continue to grow.
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WestJet, which began operating in Western Canada in 1996, now flies to more than 100 destinations in the country and around the world.
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