JetBlue Airways Undertakes Hostile Takeover Of Spirit Airlines - Statement

JetBlue Airways announced in a statement on Monday that it has begun a hostile takeover of Spirit Airlines after the latter rejected two previous acquisition offers and pursued a merger with Frontier Group Holdings

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th May, 2022) JetBlue Airways announced in a statement on Monday that it has begun a hostile takeover of Spirit Airlines after the latter rejected two previous acquisition offers and pursued a merger with Frontier Group Holdings.

"JetBlue offers more value - a significant premium in cash - more certainty and more benefits for all stakeholders," the statement said. "Frontier offers less value, more risk, no divestiture commitments, and no reverse break-up fee, despite more overlap on non-stop routes and their own regulatory challenges."

Spirit Airlines' shares increased 22% in trading and Frontier's shares increased 5.2% to $9.17 each while JetBlue's stocks tumbled 1.6 percent to $9.90.

The hostile takeover is valued at about $3.2 billion.

Spirit Airlines officials said the planned $6.6 billion merger with Frontier Group Holdings makes more sense because of the probability of the decision but acknowledged that JetBlue's $33 per share offer is a "superior proposal."

JetBlue is sending a letter to Spirit's shareholders urging them to vote against the Frontier deal.

"The Spirit board failed to provide us the necessary diligence information it had provided Frontier and then summarily rejected our proposal, which addressed its regulatory concerns, without asking us even a single question about it," the letter said. "The Spirit Board based its rejection on unsupportable claims that are easily refuted."