Robin Hayes, CEO of JetBlue Airways Corp (JBLU.O), stated on Friday that he is “hopeful” that a deal to acquire Spirit Airlines Inc. (SAVE.N) can be reached.
“We’re happy that there seems to be a real desire from the Spirit board to join us right now,” Hayes told Reuters at a meeting Friday night. “Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll keep drawing on the spirit board.”
JetBlue and Frontier Group Holdings Inc. are in a bidding war over the low-cost carrier Spirit, which is based in Florida (ULCC.O). Soul has turned down JetBlue’s deal many times, saying that it has a low chance of being approved by U.S. controllers.
A vote by its investors on whether to merge with Frontier was pushed back from June 10 to June 30. Perusing more, Hayes said that he thinks most Spirit investors agree that JetBlue’s offer is the best, which is why “they had to put off the vote.”
In a professional report released Thursday, JPMorgan said that an agreement by JetBlue to buy Spirit has become “more likely.”
The two bidders see Spirit as a chance to boost their reputations as American companies at a time when the U.S. carrier industry is being hounded by hard work and plane problems. Both of these plans would make up the fifth-largest plane in the United States.
JetBlue has made its proposal better by increasing the opposite separation fee by $150 million, from $250 million to $350 million. This brings the total value of its proposal up to $3.4 billion. The New York-based company has offered to pay part of the fee right away if Spirit investors agree to the plan. I understand more
Wilderness has agreed to pay a separation fee of $250 million, but it hasn’t raised its offer of $21.10 per share in real money and stock at Friday’s end price because JetBlue has rethought its offer.
Hayes said that the new offers show “the benefit of the cutthroat cycle that the Spirit Board should have run anyway.” Things that have happened in the last 14 days may have happened months ago. “
The “Upper East Alliance” (NEA) between JetBlue and American Airlines (AAL.O) is something that Spirit will keep in mind.
The Justice Department went to court against JetBlue and America to break up the company. Soul has asked JetBlue if it needs an agreement, but JetBlue has said no.
JPMorgan said that JetBlue might want to get rid of the NEA organisation in order to merge with another company.
The note said, “Consolidations are groundbreaking by design.”