Apollo Tops Castlelake With £5.7bn easyJet Bid as 715p Offer Sparks Auction
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Jul 10
Apollo Tops Castlelake With £5.7bn easyJet Bid as 715p Offer Sparks Auction
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Jul 10
Summary
Apollo’s 715p-a-share offer, valuing easyJet at £5.7 billion, beat Castlelake’s 690p bid and gave the airline’s board a competitive auction rather than a single buyer.
The higher bid is seen as more credible because Apollo directly backed founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou’s brand-licence arrangement and pitched extra capital to accelerate easyJet’s existing strategy.
EU ownership rules remain the main obstacle: at least 50.1% of ownership and control must stay in the region, raising the risk that any deal will need complex shareholder structures and a sizable break fee.
Even so, two US bidders have strengthened market confidence that a takeover can be completed, despite easyJet owning 208 aircraft outright and still targeting more than £1 billion in medium-term pretax profit.