DEAL WITH ACI know an M & A lawyer and I asked him in conversation about this deal? First, this person is the guy who sits to the left/right of the CEO of his global corporate employer when they do billion dollar deals similar to this one. This is how he viewed the deal after doing a little research. My friend knows Canada but had not known of this specific deal.
First comment was that any agreement has a material adverse change clause in it so that deal is going to get opened up again and renegotiated or they walk away - Surely!
When I explained about the "disease outbreak" clause his response was that "the lawyers are getting paid"...as in that is what they do for a living...get out of bad deals.
His final comments were "Lucky for AC it took this long". Better off losing the break fee and buying it later this year for half the price.
My own memory is that Transat did not have a very bright future before this deal. Renewing the fleet with 17 A321 NEOs was going to put considerable strain on their finances for many years into the future before COVID 19 came along. The future was grim. That was why they were open to a deal.
You can talk about fighting to save this deal through the courts for years but will Transat survive long enough that it will matter?