Frontier asks Spirit to delay vote on merger

Bloomberg

Frontier Group Holdings Inc asked buyout target Spirit Airlines Inc to further delay a shareholder vote on their proposed merger, saying it’s still “very far” from winning sufficient support because of a higher offer from rival JetBlue Airways Corp.
Frontier also asked Spirit’s board to publicly reaffirm its commitment to their original agreement reached in February in light of JetBlue’s latest offer valued at $3.7 billion in cash, an action that would “unquestionably benefit” the solicitation process, Frontier Chief Executive Officer Barry Biffle said in a letter. Frontier will not increase its current offer, he said, which was valued at about $2.6 billion when it was made June 24.
The carrier wants the Spirit shareholder meeting, which already has been delayed three times, to reconvene on July 27 to give Frontier time to build more support.
Frontier’s letter and plea for Spirit to recommit to their deal highlights cracks in the shareholder support for its plan for a combination that would create the nation’s largest deep-discount carrier just as the domestic airline industry recovers from the pandemic.
JetBlue jumped in as a rival suitor for Spirit to gain the heft needed to compete more effectively with the nation’s four biggest airlines. “We remain committed to this transaction,” Biffle wrote in his letter to Spirit’s top two executives.