Canada’s WestJet Airlines Ltd. (TSE:WJA) has jut been sold to Onex Corp. (CSE: ONEX) in a friendly deal value at $5 billion, including assumed debt.
Under the terms of the deal, Onex will pay $31 per-share and the airline will continue to operate as a private company. Shares of both companies were markedly higher at Monday’s open and continued to climb throughout the day.
Equity financing will be led by Onex Partners. CIBC Capital Markets is acting as financial advisor to WestJet. WestJet could still accept a better offer from another company if Onex didn’t match the offer. The deal is expected to close in the latter part of 2019 or early 2020.