History

Aimia Inc. completed its initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 2005 as the Aeroplan Income Fund and was incorporated on May 5, 2008, under the Canada Business Corporations Act, following its conversion from an income trust.

With aspirations to become a global leader in loyalty management, Aimia acquired several loyalty assets beginning with the purchase of Nectar in the UK in 2007 (sold to J Sainsbury plc in February 2018), and the acquisitions of Carlson Marketing in 2009 and Smart Button in 2013, later rebranded as Aimia’s Loyalty Solutions. In 2012, the company acquired a 48.9% stake in PLM, the owner and operator of Club Premier, the largest travel loyalty program in Mexico, and in 2014, Aimia acquired a 20.0% minority stake in BIGLIFE, the owner and operator of BIG Loyalty, one of the largest loyalty programs across Asia. In January 2019, the Aeroplan business was sold to Air Canada.

In February 2020, Aimia’s Board was fully reconstituted, and a corporate transformation was announced in April 2020 for Aimia to become an investment holding company to drive future growth, led by a new CEO to lead the execution of the new strategy. As part of the corporate transformation, Aimia also announced the merger of Aimia’s Loyalty Solutions with Kognitiv Corporation to retain a 49.3% equity stake in Kognitiv, as well as the 100% acquisition of Mittleman Investment Management, LLC (“MIM”), a well-respected value investment adviser that provides discretionary portfolio management to institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals.

In May 2020, Aimia acquired a 10.85% stake in Clear Media Limited (HK:100), one of the largest outdoor advertising firms in China. Subsequent to the end of the third quarter 2020, Aimia acquired minority stakes in JCDecaux (DEC.FP), the global leader in outdoor advertising, and Village Roadshow (VRL.AU), a leading entertainment company in Australia (tendered into the improved takeover bid in December 2020). Furthermore, Aimia also committed an initial investment to a special purpose vehicle created to pursue a leveraged buyout of a target company, with the option to increase our ownership to 25% of the target.