Air Canada Finances Three New Airbus A330 Aircraft

Air Canada completed the financing for three new Airbus A330 aircraft in February, 2000. The financing involved CIBC, United Airlines and a consortium of European banks. These financings, totaling approximately $300 million, were arranged and structured in the fall of 1999 as part of Air Canada’s defense against the hostile take-over bid launched by Onex Corporation and Canadian Airlines.

Acting for Air Canada was David Shapiro, in-house counsel, with Stephen Bowman (who was assisted by Stephanie Wong and Terry Barnett) of Thorsteinssons acting as Canadian tax counsel and Clifford Chance acting on UK matters. Torys acted for CIBC with a team that included Steve Richardson, Judith Harris, Michael Feldman, Ronit Florence, Suh Kim, Aaron Emes and Conrad Sheppard. CIBC used Allen & Overy as counsel on UK matters. Freshfields acted for the European banks and Cravath, Swaine & Moore acted for United Airlines.