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Reuters
UPDATE - Air Canada says needs more time to restructure
Thursday March 25, 5:31 pm ET
By Robert Melnbardis
(Adds finance minister quotes paragraphs 20-21)
MONTREAL, March 25 (Reuters) - Air Canada (Toronto:AC.TO - News) wants more time in bankruptcy protection so that it can sort out a pension dispute between its unions and its key equity investor that threatens the insolvent airline's restructuring plans.
On Monday, the Montreal-based carrier will ask the Ontario court overseeing its restructuring to extend its protection from creditors by one month to April 30.
Air Canada, the largest airline in Canada and the world's 11th biggest, obtained bankruptcy protection on April 1, 2003.
The judge overseeing Air Canada's court process has warned that failure to resolve the pensions issue could jeopardize the airline's restructuring and that raises the specter of liquidation.
The key investor in Air Canada's restructuring is Trinity Time Investments, run by Victor Li, a Canadian citizen who is the son of Li Ka-shing, Asia's wealthiest businessman.
Trinity is investing C$650 million ($489 million) in Air Canada to take up a 31 percent stake in a restructured version of the airline.
Li has threatened to abandon his rescue plan for Air Canada if the airline's big unions do not agree to a switch in their pension schemes that they say would expose them to greater financial risk.
Robert Milton, Air Canada's president and chief executive, said he plans to meet Li in the coming days.
"Trinity is serious in its intent to reexamine the $650 million equity investment in Air Canada and as a result I will be meeting with Victor Li in the next week to review these matters," Milton said in a letter to employees on Wednesday.
Air Canada officials will not say exactly where and when Milton and Li plan to meet. "We're not going into that level of detail," said Air Canada spokeswoman Isabelle Arthur.
Unions for 85 percent of Air Canada's 35,000 staff, from pilots to mechanics, have refused to discuss Trinity's plan to change their pensions from defined contributions schemes to defined benefit ones.
The unions argue this would effectively transfer the investment and payout risk from the company to the workers. The plans are running a C$1.3 billion deficit.
Trinity says big U.S. airlines, rivals to Air Canada on cross-border and international routes, have already switched their pension plans to lower their costs and financial risks.
OBLIGATIONS EXCEED CASH
The April 30 date for Air Canada's exit from bankruptcy protection is important because Trinity's agreement to invest in the airline expires on that day.
Air Canada said in court documents it needs the one-month extension to finalize a timeline for its exit from the process. That includes submitting a plan to creditors on how much the airline is proposing they recoup on their original investment and setting a date to vote on it.
The airline said it expects to complete its revised business plan by Friday and release its year-end financial results on Wednesday. Analysts are forecasting a deep loss for the airline.
Financing agreements between Air Canada and General Electric Capital Corp. and its affiliates also hinge on the airline exiting bankruptcy protection by April 30. GE units are providing some C$1.85 billion of new funding for Air Canada to modernize its fleet.
A report released on Thursday by Ernst & Young, Air Canada's court-appointed monitor for its restructuring, said that at Feb. 29, the airline had accumulated C$1.5 billion of obligations since its bankruptcy protection filing. Those obligations exceeded its C$827.3 million of cash by C$692.1 million.
"When combined with the amount of post-filing advance ticket sales of C$503.6 million, the overall deficiency is significant and accordingly, the monitor notes that in the event the company's restructuring is not successful and the company is liquidated there will be limited assets available from realization to fund post-filing obligations," Ernst & Young said.
In Ottawa, Finance Minister Ralph Goodale said no special provision had been set aside for the former state-owned flag carrier airline.
"There's no contingency or other provision on the books at the moment. There are potentially existing programs within Industry Canada, for example, that may be relevant to a company in distress but there's no special provision," he said.
Transport Minister Tony Valeri said the federal government was still optimistic the airline would find a private sector solution to its restructuring.
Air Canada shares closed up 4 Canadian cents at C$1.32 in Toronto on Thursday.
(Additional reporting by Gilbert Le Gras in Ottawa)
($1=$1.33 Canadian)