Spirit Airlines Shares Fly High As Bidding War Heats Up

JetBlue Airways Corp JBLU is planning a hostile takeover attempt for Spirit Airlines Inc SAVE after the latter spurned the former’s offer.
JetBlue plans to launch a tender offer directly to Spirit shareholders. JetBlue commenced an all-cash, fully financed tender offer for $30 per share.
JetBlue noted the offer represents a 60% premium to the value of the Frontier transaction as of May 13, 2022.
In addition, JetBlue said it is fully prepared to negotiate in good faith a consensual transaction at $33, subject to receiving necessary diligence.
JetBlue also urged Spirit shareholders to vote against the merger with Frontier Group Holdings Inc ULCC.
Spirit agreed in February to be acquired by Frontier in a cash-and-stock transaction valued at $2.9 billion.
“Ask yourself a simple question: why won’t the Spirit Board engage with us constructively? The interests of Bill Franke’s Indigo Partners and the long-standing relationships between the two companies is the obvious answer," said JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes in a letter to Spirit shareholders.
Spirit’s board believes the JetBlue merger would not be approved by antitrust regulators because of JetBlue's alliance with American Airlines Group AAL.
Price Action: JBLU shares are trading higher by 2.09% at $10.27, and SAVE higher by 11.3% at $18.90 in premarket on Monday.