Porter Airlines (P3, Toronto Billy Bishop City Centre) has rejected as untrue, reports in the Canadian print media which had claimed the domestic operator's shareholders has initiated the process of searching for prospective new buyers for the airline.
Citing informed sources, The Globe and Mail newspaper last week claimed that while search was already under way, there was no guarantee it would result in a deal. It said the company’s financial backers “have been actively looking for an exit strategy through a sale.”
However, airline spokesman Bradley Cicero later refuted the report stating Porter was not for sale.
"There is no truth to this rumour," he said in a statement. "We have heard this many times over the past several years. Porter is not for sale and there have been no discussions with any parties."
He claimed that Porter had the "strongest balance sheet of any airline in North America" thanks to its sale last year of the passenger terminal at Toronto Billy Bishop City Centre.
"We are positioning ourselves very well to complete a future [initial public offering], as has previously been reported," he said.
A wholly-owned subsidiary of privately-held Porter Aviation Holdings Inc., the airline also counts EdgeStone Capital Partners, OMERS Strategic Investments, GE Asset Management Incorporated (GEAMI), and Dancap Private Equity Inc. as institutional investors.
Porter's expansion plans were dealt a blow last year after Justin Trudeau's newly elected liberal government cancelled all plans pertaining to the use of jet aircraft at Toronto City Centre. Porter had conditioned its acquisition of up to thirty A220-100s from Bombardier Aerospace (BBA, Montréal Trudeau) on the move.
Currently, Porter operates twenty-six Dash 8-400s on scheduled passenger flights to twenty-two destinations around Canada and the United States.
