MONTREAL, June 3, 2019 /CNW Telbec/ - Loyalty and travel-focused consolidator Aimia Inc. (TSX: AIM) announces that it has received approval from the Toronto Stock Exchange (the TSX) respecting the establishment of a normal course issuer bid (NCIB).

Aimia has received approval to purchase for cancellation up to 8,879,302 of its common shares, or 10% of the public float of 88,793,021 common shares as at May 31, 2019, through the facilities of the TSX and through alternative trading systems (such as Alpha ATS), or by exempt offers or block purchases, during the period from June 6, 2019 to no later than June 5, 2020. Purchases made on the open market through the facilities of the TSX and alternative trading systems will be at the prevailing market price at the time of acquisition. Aimia may also purchase common shares for cancellation pursuant to exemption orders from applicable securities regulatory authorities, and such purchases will be at a discount to the prevailing market price. As at May 31, 2019 there were 117,423,494 issued and outstanding common shares.

The average daily trading volume on the TSX for the past six months was 625,790 common shares. Under TSX rules, a maximum daily repurchase of 25% of this average may be made, representing 156,447 common shares. In addition, Aimia may make, once per week, a block purchase (as such term is defined in the TSX Company Manual) of common shares not directly or indirectly owned by insiders of Aimia, in accordance with the regulations of the TSX. The common shares purchased pursuant to the NCIB will be cancelled.

Transactions under the NCIB will depend on future market conditions. Aimia retains discretion whether to make purchases under the NCIB, and to determine the timing, amount and acceptable price of any such purchases, subject at all times to applicable TSX and other regulatory requirements. Aimia has entered into an automatic share purchase plan in connection with its NCIB that contains parameters regarding how its common shares may be repurchased during times when it would ordinarily not be permitted to purchase common shares due to regulatory restrictions or self-imposed blackout periods. The automatic share purchase plan has been pre-cleared by the TSX and will be implemented effective as of June 6, 2019.

Following the expiry of its recent substantial issuer bid, and repurchase of approximately 34.9 million common shares thereunder, Aimia continues to believe that the market price of its common shares may, from time to time, not reflect the inherent value of the company, and that repurchases of common shares pursuant to the NCIB may represent an appropriate and desirable use of the company's funds. Therefore, Aimia believes that it is in its best interest to proceed with this NCIB, while maintaining sufficient financial flexibility to execute on the company's future strategic direction and capital allocation priorities.

In the past twelve months, Aimia has not repurchased any common shares by way of a normal course issuer bid.

About Aimia

Aimia Inc. (TSX: AIM) is a loyalty and travel consolidator focused on growing earnings through its existing investments and the targeted deployment of capital in loyalty solutions and other sub-sectors of the rapidly-expanding loyalty and travel markets.

Its investments in travel loyalty include the Club Premier program in Mexico, which it jointly controls with Aeromexico through its investment in PLM, and an investment alongside Air Asia in travel technology company BIGLIFE, the operator of BIG Loyalty.

Aimia also operates a loyalty solutions business, which is a well-recognized, global full-service provider of next-generation loyalty solutions for many of the world's leading brands in the retail, CPG, travel & hospitality, and financial services verticals.

For more information about Aimia, visit www.aimia.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Forward-looking statements are included in this news release. These forward-looking statements are typically identified by the use of terms such as "outlook", "guidance", "target", "forecast", "assumption" and other similar expressions or future or conditional terms such as "anticipate", "believe", "could", "estimate", "expect", "intend", "may", "plan", "predict", "project", "will", "would", and "should". Such statements may involve but are not limited to comments with respect to strategies, expectations, planned operations or future actions. 

Forward-looking statements, by their nature, are based on assumptions and are subject to important risks and uncertainties. Any forecasts, predictions or forward-looking statements cannot be relied upon due to, among other things, changing external events and general uncertainties of the business and its corporate structure. Results indicated in forward-looking statements may differ materially from actual results for a number of reasons, including without limitation, Aimia's business, the results of operations therefrom and the risks associated therewith are significantly different following the sale of Aimia Canada Inc., the execution of the new strategic plan, investment risks, investment partnerships risks, reliance on key personnel, market price and trading volume of the common shares and preferred shares, passive foreign investment company risk, industry competition, failure to protect intellectual property rights, technological disruptions and inability to use third-party software and outsourcing, regulatory matters - privacy, failure to safeguard databases, cyber security and consumer privacy, uncertainty of dividend declarations and/or payments on either common shares or preferred shares, tax losses, air, travel and hospitality industry disruptions, airline industry changes and increased airline costs, foreign operations, interest rate and currency fluctuations, retail market/economic conditions, legal proceedings, audit by tax authorities, as well as the other factors identified Aimia's public disclosure records on file with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities.

The forward-looking statements contained herein represent Aimia's expectations as of the date hereof, and are subject to change after such date. However, Aimia disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under applicable securities regulations.

SOURCE Aimia Inc.

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