AIR CANADA STOCK CLIMBS AFTER CANADIAN ACCEPTS BUYOUT OFFER

AIR CANADA STOCK CLIMBS AFTER CANADIAN ACCEPTS BUYOUT OFFER

   Air Canada’s stock jumped C$2.75 a share Monday after Canadian Airlines’
board recommended shareholders accept Air Canada’s C$2-per-share buyout.
   The shares of Air Canada, the nation’s largest airline, reached C$13 a
share on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Shares of the financially troubled
Canadian Airlines rose 15 Canadian cents to C$1.85.
   Air Canada’s deadline for sale of Canadian shares is 5 p.m. Tuesday.
However, Air Canada was expected to extend that time.
   The offer is conditional on more than 50 percent of outstanding common shares
being tendered by the deadline. Air Canada’s buyout plan totaled C$1.1 billion.
   Air Canada is in talks with AMR Corp., which owns American Airlines and a
25-percent voting stake in Canadian Air. AMR helped to fund a failed attempt by Onex Corp.
to take over Air Canada and merge it with Canadian.
   If Air Canada successfully takes over Canadian, it plans to withdraw
Canadian from the oneworld alliance and move it to the Star Alliance, with Air Canada’s
partners United Airlines, and Germany’s Deutsche Lufthansa.