{"id":189886,"date":"2026-07-10T12:00:02","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T12:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/?p=189886"},"modified":"2026-07-10T20:07:47","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T20:07:47","slug":"battle-for-easyjet-apollo-launches-7-7-billion-bid-outbidding-castlelake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/en\/2026\/07\/battle-for-easyjet-apollo-launches-7-7-billion-bid-outbidding-castlelake.html","title":{"rendered":"Battle for easyJet: Apollo Launches $7.7 Billion Bid, Outbidding Castlelake"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The board of directors of British low-cost carrier easyJet has withdrawn its backing for Castlelake&#8217;s proposal after receiving a higher offer from US investment firm Apollo Global Management. This new proposal, valued at \u00a35.7 billion ($7.7 billion), triggers a bidding war for control of one of Europe&#8217;s largest aviation operators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Board&#8217;s U-Turn<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The easyJet board officially announced its support for Apollo&#8217;s proposal, which offers \u00a37.15 per share, superseding the agreement in principle reached just days earlier with Castlelake at \u00a36.90 per share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The new offer represents a bold attempt to take control of the low-cost carrier, whose stock market value halved following the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Following the announcement, easyJet shares rallied, surging up to 15% in early trading to reach \u00a36.75, their highest level since February 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>\u2192 <a href=\"https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/en\/2026\/06\/easyjet-takes-delivery-of-its-100th-airbus-a320neo-family-aircraft.html\">easyJet Takes Delivery of its 100th Airbus A320neo Family Aircraft<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Strategies: Expansion vs. Fleet Modernization<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Both competitors present contrasting visions for the airline&#8217;s future:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Apollo Global Management&#8217;s Proposal:<\/strong> The US fund plans to retain the key management team and maintain the strategy of capacity expansion and growth within its package holiday division (easyJet holidays). Furthermore, it will preserve the brand under the existing licensing agreement with easyGroup, owned by founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou, whose family holds approximately 15% of the shares. It also offers current shareholders the option to roll over their stakes into the private buyout vehicle to retain voting rights.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Castlelake&#8217;s Proposal:<\/strong> The rival firm, which initially expressed interest in May and was rejected four times before easyJet opened its books in June, has maintained a more reserved stance. Its only explicit commitment has been to back the company&#8217;s fleet modernization program, focused on replacing older aircraft with Airbus narrowbodies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Regulatory Challenges and Market Environment<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The global aviation sector is under severe financial pressure due to soaring jet fuel prices, driven by the conflict in Iran. In this environment, industry analysts view easyJet as a highly valuable turnkey operation due to its consolidated business model and robust infrastructure, which includes a fleet of more than 350 aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, the primary obstacle for any non-European Union (EU) buyer lies in the Eurozone&#8217;s strict ownership regulations. EU airline majority ownership rules require carriers operating within the bloc to be more than 50% owned and controlled by EU nationals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite this, sector analysts suggest that both proposals are viable to secure regulatory clearances. For its part, Apollo has already stated its commitment to taking &#8220;all necessary steps&#8221; to secure merger control clearances and EU foreign subsidy approvals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Next Steps in the Financial Bidding<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The UK market has experienced a recent wave of foreign takeover bids due to the undervaluation of its companies, generating a record volume of transactions. Nevertheless, financial analysts warn that while a bidding war benefits shareholders in the short term, there is a risk of excessive debt leverage on the business that could impact its future performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The statutory deadlines to determine the airline&#8217;s future are now underway: Castlelake has until August 3 to formalize a counteroffer, while Apollo must submit its final binding proposal by August 7 at the latest, or otherwise walk away from the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"related-topics\">Related Topics<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-post-grid uagb-post-grid  uagb-post__image-position-top uagb-post__image-enabled uagb-block-9e302684     uagb-post__items uagb-post__columns-2 is-grid uagb-post__columns-tablet-2 uagb-post__columns-mobile-1 uagb-post__equal-height\" data-total=\"212\" style=\"\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<article class=\"uagb-post__inner-wrap\">\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div 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More<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The board of directors of British low-cost carrier easyJet has withdrawn its backing for Castlelake&#8217;s proposal after receiving&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":4316,"featured_media":102063,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[230,262,269],"class_list":{"0":"post-189886","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-airlines","8":"tag-airline","9":"tag-easyjet-2","10":"tag-europe"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Easyjet-A320.jpg",800,400,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Easyjet-A320-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Easyjet-A320-300x150.jpg",300,150,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Easyjet-A320-768x384.jpg",768,384,true],"large":["https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Easyjet-A320.jpg",800,400,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Easyjet-A320.jpg",800,400,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Easyjet-A320.jpg",800,400,false],"pk-small":["https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Easyjet-A320-80x80.jpg",80,80,true],"pk-thumbnail":["https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Easyjet-A320-300x225.jpg",300,225,true],"csco-small":["https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Easyjet-A320-80x80.jpg",80,80,true],"csco-intermediate":["https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Easyjet-A320-200x140.jpg",200,140,true],"csco-thumbnail":["https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Easyjet-A320-380x220.jpg",380,220,true],"csco-thumbnail-alternative":["https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Easyjet-A320-300x180.jpg",300,180,true],"csco-thumbnail-uncropped":["https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Easyjet-A320-380x190.jpg",380,190,true],"csco-medium":["https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Easyjet-A320.jpg",800,400,false],"csco-medium-alternative":["https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Easyjet-A320-560x336.jpg",560,336,true],"csco-medium-uncropped":["https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Easyjet-A320.jpg",800,400,false],"csco-large":["https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Easyjet-A320.jpg",800,400,false],"csco-large-uncropped":["https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Easyjet-A320.jpg",800,400,false],"csco-extra-large":["https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Easyjet-A320.jpg",800,400,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Redacci\u00f3n - Aviaci\u00f3n al D\u00eda","author_link":"https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/en\/author\/aad"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The board of directors of British low-cost carrier easyJet has withdrawn its backing for Castlelake&#8217;s proposal after receiving&hellip;","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4316"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189886"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":189887,"href":"https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189886\/revisions\/189887"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}