EasyJet rejects 4th proposed acquisition of the American Castlelake fund

A the company explained that the proposal, which is not yet a firm offer, provides for the acquisition of all of easyJet shares at a price of GBP 6,50 (EUR 7,54) per share.

The Board of Directors of easyJet unanimously rejected the initiative, considering that it “undervalues significantly” the group’s views, while maintaining doubts about the viability of the operation.

However, easyJet agreed to grant the fund limited access to commercial information in order to facilitate a possible improvement of the proposal and requested a nine-day extension of the deadline set by the UK procurement rules.

In this way, the Castlelake-led consortium will have until 17:00, local time, on July 5th to decide whether to present a formal offer or withdraw its interest.

The airline also stated that it has reservations about the proposed structure, according to which the operation would be articulated through a 49% controlled consortium by Castlelake and other co-investors, and by 51% by European investors, including former air sector managers Peter Bellew and Mark Breen.

EasyJet argued that it is in a position of strength, with a solid cash situation, and reiterated its objective of achieving a pre-tax profit of more than GBP 1,000 million (EUR 1,160 million) in the medium term.

This is the fourth proposal of the fund, which at the beginning of the month also advanced with an attempt to acquire the British company.

Air France-KLM’s executive president, Benjamin Smith, said that the company might be interested in acquiring some assets from the British airline easyJet, if a possible purchase of the carrier is made by the US fund Castlelake.

The person responsible clarified, however, that the group is not involved in any offer by easyJet and stressed that Castlelake has not yet formalised any proposal.