Chorus Aviation, a holding company that owns Jazz Aviation and Voyageur Aviation, has closed its offer to buyback and cancel $C50 million ($35 million) of shares.
On Tuesday (November 11), the Canadian company confirmed that it will purchase and cancel just over 2 million shares, representing about 8.1% of its total issued and outstanding shares.
The agreed purchase price of C$24.25 per share represented a 5% premium on the final closing price of C$23.06 per share on the day the offer expired.
However, at the time of writing, Chorus shares climbed almost 5% during the first 10 minutes of trading on Tuesday, and are currently priced at $24.21.
As the offer was “oversubscribed”, participating shareholders will have approximately 98.6% of their successfully tendered shares purchased by the company.
Chorus’s Class A variable voting shares and Class B voting shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) under the ticker 'CHR'.
The company’s 5.75% senior unsecured debentures, due June 30, 2027, trade under the ticker 'CHR.DB.C'.
In its third-quarter earnings, published last week, Chorus reported a “solid” financial performance, despite a drop in net income from C$18.4 million to C$10.7 million. This was attributed mostly to C$12.8 million of unrealised foreign exchanges losses from 2024.
On the plus-side, adjusted earnings available to common shareholders rose from C$0.43 to C$0.60 – a metric that will be further strengthened following the completion of the purchase for cancellation programme.
“Chorus’ third-quarter results reflect a clear focus on delivering shareholder value and continued execution on our strategic priorities,” said Colin Copp, president and CEO of Chorus.
“We delivered strong earnings and cash flows this quarter, with Jazz generating stable and predictable earnings, and Voyageur accelerating its shift to higher operating margin areas of defence, parts sales and specialty MRO.
“Our strategic emphasis on these areas reflects an expedited move away from geo-politically sensitive specialty flying.”