Air Canada, Delta in Financing Deals

At a time when financing is proving tough, Air Canada announced that it concluded a secured financing transaction valued at US$78 million (approximately C$95 million) with Calyon New York branch and Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale. In the meantime, Delta announced it will sell 18.2 million shares to make up for taxes assessed on employee stock ownership. In addition, the carrier, at a December 9 investor’s meeting, indicated it would take charges on the merger with Northwest.
Air Canada’s five-year-loan matures in 2012 and represents an additional step in the implementation of Air Canada's strategy of improving its short term and longer term liquidity through both traditional and non-traditional means.
Delta said it will incur one-time cash costs of about $500 million in integration costs over the next three years, according to its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It will also incur about $950 million in non-cash charges for stock awards to non-management personnel and a $1.7 billion reduction in Northwest’s debt.