Aimia investor says it will vote against re-election of CEO, board nominees

M O N T R E A L • The operator of the Aeroplan loyalty rewards program still faces the prospect of a shareholder revolt after a U.S. investor vowed to vote against the existing board of director nominees at this month’s annual meeting.

22NW Fund LP of Seattle blames ’s poor performance and plummeting share price directly on the board’s actions including the “botched” Air Canada renegotiation and the sale of the British program Nector to retailer Sainsbury.

Air Canada served notice last year that it does not plan to renew its 30-year-plus partnership with the loyalty card when the current contract ends in 2020.

“My view is that these people should be fired immediately,” fund manager Aron English said in an interview Friday.

The fund said it owns about 4.3 million shares or about three per cent of Montreal-based Aimia.

22NW Fund said it will vote at the April 27 annual meeting against chairman Robert Brown and CEO David Johnston along with directors Roman Doroniuk, Thomas Gardner, Emma Griffin, Robert Kreidler and William McExan.

It will support new director nominees Brian Edwards, Philip Mittleman and Jeremy Rabe.

English said he’s heard from other shareholders who are equally outraged with the board, signalling there’s a “good chance” they’ll win the battle over directors.

“This board has driven the share price down 80 per cent in less than a year, so yeah, I would say that people are pretty unhappy,” he said.

Aimia’s share price has fallen to a low of $1.40 from its 2014 peak of $19.88. It closed at $1.70 Friday on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

English threatened to take undisclosed action if board members who receive less than half of votes cast refuse to honour the company policy to resign.

After meeting with the company several times, he said he’s had enough.

“They’ve given it their best shot, they failed and it’s time for somebody else who actually owns equity in the company and is aligned with shareholders to have a shot here.”

Aimia didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.