EASYJET BOARD ACCEPTS £5BN CASTLELAKE TAKEOVER BID

The board of easyJet has agreed in principle to accept a takeover bid from private equity firm Castlelake valued at £5bn, at an offer price of £6.90 per share in cash. The bid represents Castlelake's fifth proposal for the airline and is significantly higher than its original offer of £5.60 per share. The board stated it has concluded that the financial terms are at a value it would be minded to recommend to easyJet shareholders. The move would result in easyJet's departure from the London Stock Exchange, following other FTSE 350 companies that have been taken private in recent years.

Castlelake first made a bid for easyJet on 12 June, which the airline rejected as "opportunistic" at a time when its share price had fallen. Following rejection of the third bid, Castlelake made a public appeal for investors to pressure the airline into engagement, criticising easyJet's "unwillingness to engage meaningfully". After the fourth offer of £6.50 per share, easyJet's board signalled willingness to engage and agreed to provide commercial information to support a higher proposal. Some shareholders had been holding out for £7 per share, which the current offer falls short of.

The bidding vehicle would be structured with 49 per cent ownership by Castlelake and 51 per cent by EU nationals, including Peter Bellew, former chief executive of Malaysia Airlines, and Mark Breen, chief executive of Dublin-based Oneiros Aerospace. This ownership structure is required under EU competition rules mandating significant involvement from European citizens in the takeover. The transaction remains subject to shareholder approval and customary closing conditions.