EasyJet Takeover Battle Heads Towards Critical Deadlines
Suitor deadlines loom this week for easyJet, with rival bids from Castlelake and Apollo creating a high-stakes situation.
The competition to acquire easyJet is intensifying as potential buyers face crucial deadlines this week to submit formal offers. The airline has been at the center of a bidding war between private equity groups Castlelake and Apollo.
Last month, easyJet announced it had accepted a £5.5 billion takeover proposal from Castlelake. However, this agreement was quickly complicated when rival firm Apollo submitted a higher offer of £5.7 billion, which the easyJet board subsequently accepted. Castlelake now has until 5 p.m. on Monday to decide whether to submit a revised formal offer or withdraw its bid. Apollo must make its proposal official by the same time on Friday.
Should Apollo's bid be successful, it would expand the asset manager's existing airline holdings. Apollo currently has a part-ownership in Atlas Air, and last year, its private credit division provided a $745 million loan to Virgin Atlantic, secured against the airline's Heathrow take-off and landing slots.
The potential takeover of easyJet highlights a trend of foreign acquisitions impacting the London stock market. In recent weeks, the board of DCC Energy, a FTSE 100 company, recommended a £5.8 billion takeover offer from U.S. private equity firms KKR and Energy Capital Partners. This follows a £14 billion offer for warehouse and data center giant Segro from San Francisco-based real estate firm Prologis.