  With the advent of modern observational efforts providing extensive giant
molecular cloud catalogues, understanding the evolution of such clouds in a
galactic context is of prime importance. While numerous previous numerical and
theoretical works have focused on the cloud properties in isolated discs, few
have looked into the cloud population in an interacting disc system. We present
results of the first study investigating the evolution of the cloud population
in galaxy experiencing an M51-like tidal fly-by using numerical simulations
including star formation, interstellar medium cooling and stellar feedback. We
see the cloud population shift to large unbound clouds in the wake of the
companion passage, with the largest clouds appearing as fleeting short-lived
agglomerations of smaller clouds within the tidal spiral arms, brought together
by large scale streaming motions. These are then sheared apart as they leave
the protection of the spiral arms. Clouds appear to lead diverse lives, even
within similar environments, with some being born from gas shocked by filaments
streaming into the spiral arms, and others from effectively isolated smaller
colliding pairs. Overall this cloud population produces a shallower mass
function than the disc in isolation, especially in the arms compared to the
inter-arm regions. Direct comparisons to M51 observations show similarities
between cloud populations, though models tailored to the mass and orbital
models of M51 appear necessary to precisely reproduce the cloud population.
