The board at Spirit Airlines took little time in weighing in on JetBlue Airways’ hostile takeover bid. The New York-based carrier’s latest $30-per-share offer “is NOT in the best interests of Spirit and its stockholders,” the board said Thursday.
“JetBlue’s tender offer has not addressed the core issue of the significant completion risk and insufficient protections for Spirit stockholders. Based on our own research and the advice of antitrust and economic experts, our view is that the proposed combination of JetBlue and Spirit lacks any realistic likelihood of obtaining regulatory approval, while our company faces a long and bleak limbo period as we await resolution,” said Mac Gardner, Chairman of the Board of Directors for Spirit Airlines, in a statement.
JetBlue fired back with its own statement: “The Spirit board, driven by serious conflicts of interest, continues to ignore the best interests of its shareholders by distorting the facts to distract from their flawed process and protect their inferior deal with Frontier. Regarding regulatory approval, Spirit would have you ignore the current regulatory climate to think that approval of their Frontier deal is assured. That is simply not true. Both deals are subject to regulatory review, and both deals have a similar risk profile.”
JetBlue launched its hostile takeover on May 16, nearly two weeks after the Spirit board rejected an unsolicited offer from the airline. The Spirit board supports a merger with Frontier Airlines, which shareholders will vote on on June 10. The Frontier-Spirit combo also has the backing of both airlines flight attendant union.
Tags: frontier airlines, mergers and acquisitions, spirit airlines