Transat A.T. Inc., parent firm of Air Transat (TS, Montréal Trudeau), confirmed in a statement on August 2 that it had taken note of a new offer by Montreal real estate developer Group Mach to buy at least 6.9 million, or about 19.5%, class B voting shares in the Canadian tour operator.

Group Mach had offered earlier on the same day to buy the stake at CAD14 dollars (USD10.60) per share, in an effort to block an Air Canada (AC, Montréal Trudeau) deal for the Canadian tour operator.

In June, Transat accepted an all-cash bid of CAD520 million dollars (USD397 million) by Air Canada, or CAD13 dollars (USD9.84) a share, despite an earlier CAD14 per share offer from Mach, approximately CAD560 million (USD427 million) in total.

Mach has said it aims to use its 19.5% stake to vote against the Air Canada deal, arguing that the agreement “greatly undervalues” Transat, Reuters reported. But Mach added that it did not intend to start a hostile takeover bid and that it would not raise the CAD14 offer while the current board of Transat remained in place.

The Air Transat parent responded that a "special committee" of Transat's board of directors was reviewing the terms of the offer with its advisors with the aim of making a recommendation to shareholders, but cautioned that "Transat shareholders are advised to take no action on the offer and not to tender their shares until Transat's board of directors has made a formal recommendation."