Air Canada's strenuous bid to emerge from bankruptcy protection has suffered another blow with the sudden resignation of the company's top restructuring architect, Romanian-born lawyer Calin Rovinescu, the Toronto Star reported yesterday.
"I'm tired," Calin Rovinescu said. "This has been the most complicated restructuring in the history of Canada by a factor of 10."
Rovinescu, who first helped Air Canada with its 1988 initial public offering and later advised the company in battling a 1999 hostile takeover bid, will remain with Air Canada as an adviser for several weeks, the company said yesterday.
According to the Toronto Star, Rovinescu was closely tied to Asian tycoon Victor Li's bid to rescue Air Canada, which he had championed over offers from other groups, such as Cerberus Capital Management of New York and Texas Pacific Group LP. Both of those companies may re-emerge as bidders now that the Li deal appears likely to collapse.
Air Canada chief executive Robert Milton, who will now have to shoulder much of Rovinescu's role, said in a statement that Rovinescu achieved "remarkable results in an unprecedented short period of time."
"Calin was an important agent of change," Milton was quoted as saying by the Toronto Star. "We probably achieved more institutional change over the last year than we have over the previous 60."
Milton said Rovinescu engineered a plan to raise money for the cash-strapped airline by spinning off part of its lucrative Aeroplan and technical services units.
News of Rovinescu's resignation comes days after prospective investor Li's Trinity Time Investments Ltd. moved closer to withdrawing its bid to invest $650 million in the cash-strapped carrier.
Li, the son of Asian tycoon Li Ka-shing, demanded that unions surrender guaranteed retirement income in favour of plans where income might fluctuate based on the performance of investments within the plan.
Rovinescu, who last spring convinced Air Canada's nine embittered unions to give up $1.1 billion in annual wages and benefits to help save the country's largest airline, couldn't sway union leaders to make more concessions, the Canadian newspaper commented.
catalina.apostoiu@zf.ro
Pentru alte știri, analize, articole și informații din business în timp real urmărește Ziarul Financiar pe WhatsApp Channels
