Quebecor CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau in Montreal in May. Mr. Péladeau controls 9.5 per cent of Transat AT.Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press
Transat AT Inc. TRZ-T has rebuffed Pierre Karl Péladeau’s calls for a special meeting to address changes to the board, and has instead scheduled the vote for its annual meeting in March.
Mr. Péladeau, who controls 9.5 per cent of the operator of Air Transat through Financière Outremont Inc., is seeking to replace the 11-member board of directors with six people – including himself and two others he nominated.
Transat, in a statement on Monday, rejected Mr. Péladeau’s request for a vote by Feb. 6 as too close to the annual meeting on March 10. It said this would amount to causing investors to address “overlapping subject matters resulting in unnecessary duplication, cost, shareholder confusion and distraction.”
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Pushing back the vote will give stockholders time to consider Mr. Péladeau’s proposals about the future of the company, Transat said.
The airline operator said Mr. Péladeau “seeks to remove a majority of independent directors and replace them with nominees aligned with a single shareholder who, as of public filings, beneficially owns less than 10 per cent of Transat’s outstanding shares. The proposal would provide effective control of the board without a control premium being paid to other shareholders, and without a publicly disclosed strategic plan for Transat’s business.”
In a statement, Mr. Péladeau said he was disappointed but not surprised by Transat’s move to hold a later vote, which he attributed to a “lack of urgency.”
“We are convinced that it is essential to revitalize the board of directors and recapitalize Transat’s broken balance sheet to enable it to be a leading carrier, for the benefit of all shareholders and stakeholders,” Mr. Péladeau said.
He wants to renegotiate the deal that Transat reached with the federal government that reduced its pandemic bailout debt to $334-million from $772-million but gave Ottawa a 20-per-cent stake in the company.
Air Transat lost $114-million in 2024, and hasn’t made money since 2018, when it posted a $10-million profit. Its share price on the Toronto Stock Exchange has fallen by 54 per cent over the past five years. Transat reports 2025 financial results on Thursday.
The company last week reached a tentative five-year agreement with its 750 pilots, averting a strike.