In case you didn’t already know Air Canada spun off Aeroplan (the current Air Canada loyalty program) in 2002 as a separate entity, Aeroplan was eventually sold to Aimia who are the current owners. They have an exclusive contract with Air Canada until June 29th, 2020. Air Canada has previously indicated they would launch their own competing program then and Aeroplan has announced their plans post Air Canada exclusivity in some detail recently.
In a new development Air Canada along with financial partners TD Bank (US & Canadian issuer of Air Canada cards), CIBC (Canadian issuer) & Visa (payment network) have announced that they want to acquire the Aeroplan program for a total purchase price of $2.25 billion ($250 million cash and $2 billion in Aeroplan points liability). This values Aimia Inc. (Aeroplan parent company) at $3.64 per share. Aimia has responded to this announcement stating that they are aware of the acquisition offer and that they were already privately having these discussions.
Hat tip to VFTW
