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Bloomberg
Spirit Airlines Inc is holding talks with would-be suitor JetBlue Airways Corp over its revised $3.4 billion all-cash takeover bid and will announce a recommendation from its board ahead of a June 30 shareholder meeting.
The deep-discount carrier said it’s also continuing talks with Frontier Group Holdings Inc over a previous buyout deal originally valued at $2.9 billion in stock and cash when it was announced in February. Spirit, which has said its board remains bound by the terms of that agreement at this point, is giving both bidders access to the same internal company information on the same terms, according to a statement.
Spirit’s board has to decide whether to change course and support the higher cash proposal from JetBlue or stick with the Frontier agreement that would make the combined discounters the fifth-largest US airline. JetBlue is seeking a quick infusion of growth, including aircraft, that would make it a stronger competitor to the leading domestic carriers.
The shareholder vote was previously postponed from June 10 to give Spirit’s board time to hold talks. Spirit shares rose 1% before regular trading in New York, while JetBlue climbed 1.9% and Frontier was down less than 1%.