Spirit Calls For Stockholders To Reject JetBlue Offer - AVweb

News Discussion
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The board of directors for Spirit Airlines has unanimously determined that an offer from JetBlue Airways to acquire all outstanding shares of Spirit’s common stock was not in the best interests of the airline and its stockholders. The board’s Thursday announcement came in response to JetBlue filing a proxy statement and launching a website last week urging Spirit shareholders to vote against a proposed merger between Spirit and fellow ultra-low-cost carrier (ULCC) Frontier Airlines in favor of a merger with JetBlue. Spirit’s board cited continued concerns that the JetBlue transaction would be unlikely to clear antitrust regulations and the associated financial difficulties a failed merger would cause.

This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/spirit-calls-for-stockholders-to-reject-jetblue-offer
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The Spirit board of directors asking shareholders to walk away from a 60% higher offer is going to be a tough sell for any institutional investors who are more interested in profit than making a good fit with Frontier. However, I must admit that the Jet Blue offer sounds like their intentions are to limit competition from a Spirit/Frontier merger. If they gobble up Spirit, there is less competition to be had. In this day of merger mania, it is hard to predict whether the FTC would step in or not.

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If JetBlue does gobble up Spirit it will be no great loss. I do agree that the government may not approve due to anti-trust laws. Still some lawyer at JetBlue must believe they are legal in this buyout attempt.