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• Spirit had earlier rejected a $33 per share takeover offer from JetBlue
JetBlue Airways Corp (NASDAQ: JBLU) launched a hostile takeover bid of Spirit Airlines Inc (NYSE: SAVE) on Monday, after the carrier rejected a $33 per share offer earlier this month.
JetBlue, which had offered a $3.6 billion cash takeover bid to Spirit, is battling with Frontier Group Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: ULCC) for the takeover of Spirit. In February, Spirit had signed a $2.9 billion merger deal with Frontier.
“If the Spirit shareholders vote against the transaction with Frontier and compel the Spirit Board to negotiate with us in good faith, we will work towards a consensual transaction at $33 per share, subject to receiving the information to support it,” JetBlue said.
Spirit had earlier reject JetBlue’s offer saying there was too much risk with the deal as regulators might bar a merger with JetBlue.
“We’re also offering to buy their shares, now at a price slightly lower than our original offer because the Spirit Board didn’t follow a fair process or allow us to look ‘under the hood’ like they allowed Frontier to do,” JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes said on Monday.
Spirit shareholders are set to have a meeting on June 10.
“The Spirit Board’s flat-out rejection of our offer is a troubling sign that they do not have their shareholders’ best interests in mind. So, what is the Spirit Board thinking?” Hayes said in his employee note. “Our guess is that there are a lot of historical ties and personal relationships between the controlling shareholder of Frontier and some of the Spirit Board members who agreed to the Frontier deal.”
Picture Credits: CNBC
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