A Frontier Airlines plane near a Spirit Airlines plane at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on May 16, 2022 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Joe Raedle | Getty Images
Frontier Airlines has softened its offer to merge with budget company Spirit, less than a week before Spirit shareholders vote on the deal.
The new $ 4.13 per share, $ 2 per share higher than Frontier’s original cash and stock offer, comes after JetBlue Airways repeatedly increased its own offer to buy Spirit directly on a fully-fledged deal. effective.
The battle for Spirit, based in Miramar, Florida, has intensified in recent weeks. JetBlue has argued that its deal would help it compete better against major airlines and expand rapidly at a time when new planes and pilots are scarce.
JetBlue would take over Spirit, while a Frontier-Spirit combination would create a great discount operator. Any transaction would create the fifth largest airline in the country.
Spirit shareholders will vote Thursday on the Frontier deal.
Spirit CEO Ted Christie told CNBC that the airline’s board has evaluated JetBlue’s latest offer and still has doubts that regulators will approve the deal. The council, he said, still considers a Frontier bond as “a superior transaction.”
JetBlue did not immediately comment on Frontier’s sugary offer.
The new offer, which was announced Friday afternoon, also increases the proposed reverse breakout quota from $ 100 million to $ 350 million, in case the deal is not approved by regulators. This coincides with the reverse break rate offered by JetBlue. Frontier’s new offering includes a prepaid $ 2.22 to Spirit shareholders.
Christie said the council still had regulatory concerns about JetBlue’s northeast alliance with American Airlines, which allows carriers to coordinate flights and book passengers on others’ planes. The Justice Department asked last year to undo this partnership.
Shares of the three airlines varied little in off-hours trading on Friday.