Transat announced 29JUL that it has reached an agreement with Canada Enterprise Emergency Funding Corporation ("CEEFC"), a federal Crown corporation, to obtain $100 million in additional funding, with another $50 million available, on top of funding it's already received from the government during the pandemic.
According to the company, "This demonstrates the Crown corporation's renewed commitment to Transat in the implementation of its recovery plan."
"This complementary financing and the changes to the existing agreements strengthen our treasury position and reinforce our financial resilience," said Annick Guérard, President and CEO.
"This important financing milestone, combined with sales that have been doing well in recent months, will give us the financial flexibility to deploy our strategic plan with optimism and confidence."
The funding is in addition to financing secured on 29APR, 2021, through Large Employer Emergency Financing Facility (LEEFF) to help the Corporation overcome the effects of the pandemic. On 10MAR, 2022, Transat also received an additional $43.3 million for traveller refunds and negotiated favourable 20-month deferrals for certain key terms of the unsecured LEEFF financing agreement.
According to CEEFC, "the loan brings to a conclusion an application Transat filed during the height of the Omicron wave (earlier in 2022), which severely impacted the company's revenues and workers."
It points out the goal of LEEFF is to "protect jobs in Canada's airline sector."
In this final LEEFF loan, CEEFC says, Transat will receive up to $150 million "to protect Canadian jobs and ensure operations can continue, despite the company's ongoing capital operating challenges as a result of the pandemic. The amount consists of $100 million up front in LEEFF loans, and another $50 million loan contingent on Transat raising third-party funding (matched dollar for dollar up to $50 million)."
As of 29JUL, CEEFC has stopped accepting new LEEFF applications, "reflecting Canada's strong economic recovery from the pandemic and the fact that no new applications for securing LEEFF loans have been received from Canadian companies, except for Transat, over the last year," the crown corporation says.
