JetBlue Makes Offer for Spirit Airlines to Thwart Sale to Frontier
JetBlue made an offer of about 3.6 billion dollars to take over its low-cost rival Spirit Airlines, in a move that seeks to thwart the sale of this company to Frontier Group, agreed in February but which has not yet closed.
Spirit, in a statement, announced Tuesday that it received an “unsolicited proposal” from JetBlue to take over all its shares for a price of $33 per share.
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That offer would in principle exceed the combination of shares and cash that Spirit shareholders were to receive under the agreement reached with Frontier last February and which is still pending final approval, EFE reported.
Spirit, in its note, said that the company’s board of directors will work with its financial and legal advisors to evaluate JetBlue’s proposal and choose the option that is in the best interest of the company and its shareholders.
The low-cost airline’s statement confirmed a previous report by The New York Times, published shortly before the close of the stock market session, which sent Spirit shares soaring 22% to $26.91 (€24.67).
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Meanwhile, shares of JetBlue – which has not made a public statement – closed down more than 7% in response to the news of its offer.
Spirit, which is based in Florida, and Frontier announced in February an agreement to create the fifth largest U.S. airline, which, according to the companies, would improve competition in the sector by introducing a real competitor to the four U.S. giants (American Airlines, Delta, United and Southwest).
JetBlue, which concentrates its operations in the east of the country, is the sixth largest U.S. airline.
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