The US investment firm trying to buy easyJet has gone public with its latest £4.7bn takeover proposal for the budget airline, its third and latest offer to be rejected.
Castlelake said on Monday that an all-cash offer of 625p a share, valuing easyJet at just over £4.7bn, had been rejected by the airline's board on Sunday, after previous offers at 560p and 600p.
Castlelake said it had now decided to make the bid public so that easyJet shareholders could evaluate it before a takeover deadline on Friday.
“Castlelake expected that the third proposal would elicit prompt engagement from the easyJet board,†the company said. “Following the rejection of three proposals by the easyJet Board, and given its unwillingness to engage meaningfully, Castlelake is announcing this third proposal to enable easyJet shareholders to consider its merits and provide their views on the third proposal to the easyJet board.â€
Under City takeover rules, Castlelake, which is headquartered in Minneapolis and manages $36bn (£27bn) in assets, has until 5pm on 26 June to announce whether it intends to make an offer for easyJet.
Castlelake also said it has partnered with two investors to meet EU regulations whereby European airlines must be majority-owned by investors within the region. This rule still applies to easyJet, even after Brexit.
The company said it had partnered with Peter Bellew, a former chief operating officer at Riyadh Air, easyJet and Ryanair, and the former chief executive of Malaysia Airlines. Bellew runs Dooks Capital, a seed investment and advisory firm focused on AI in aviation, which he founded last September and operates out of Saudi Arabia.
The second partner is Mark Breen, the chief executive of Dublin-based Oneiros Aerospace, whose previous experience includes working for Oman Air.
“The third proposal includes these EU national partners investing and participating in the proposed acquisition of the company through their ownership and control of an EU company,†said Castlelake. “This EU partner will hold a controlling shareholding in the overall structure. The EU partner will at all times be owned and controlled by EU nationals.
“This proposed structure is consistent with structures adopted by a number of other European airlines that are subject to the same EU ownership rules as the company. Castlelake is confident that this is a clear, deliverable solution to ensure compliance with all applicable regulatory requirements.â€
Castlelake made its first approach earlier this month, saying it intended to make an offer of at least 403p, which valued easyJet at £3bn.
On Monday, easyJet said Castlelake is trying to buy the airline “on the cheapâ€, and said that its proposed ownership structure of the carrier is “opaqueâ€.
“The board believes that the third proposal represents an opportunistic attempt to acquire easyJet ‘on the cheap' and that it is therefore not in the best interests of easyJet shareholders,†the company said.
“The board of easyJet carefully considered the third proposal with its advisers and concluded that it is highly opportunistic, delivered against the backdrop of easyJet's temporarily depressed share price, and still fundamentally undervalues easyJet and its prospects.
“The premium, multiple and future share price analyses presented by Castlelake are based primarily on Middle East conflict-affected share prices, short-term earnings and analyst reports.â€
Should Castlelake's bid be successful, it could prove an interesting return to easyJet for Bellew, after a chequered tenure as chief operating officer from 2019 to 2022. His initial appointment, after being poached from Ryanair, prompted legal action from the Irish carrier.
The following year, the easyJet pilots' union passed an overwhelming vote of no confidence in Bellew owing to his handling of staff and layoffs during the Covid pandemic – which notoriously included addressing pilots with a motivational speech plagiarised from the Irish taoiseach. Bellew quit in 2022 after easyJet suffered weeks of operational issues and flight cancellations.
Before news of takeover interest emerged, shares in easyJet had lost about a fifth of their value since the start of the year.
The airline's share price has risen by 40% over the past month amid prospects of a takeover. Shares were up 3.4% at 521p by early afternoon on Monday, making easyJet one of the top risers on the FTSE 250.
In October, reports emerged that the Swiss-headquartered shipping company MSC was considering a takeover of the business. In 2021, easyJet rejected an approach from the rival airline Wizz Air.
EasyJet, which is headquartered in Luton, England, and employs more than 16,000 people around the world, is one of Europe's three biggest low-cost airlines, behind Ryanair, with Wizz Air in third place.
Castlelake is led by its executive chair and founder, Rory O'Neill. It entered talks in January with the bankrupt US carrier Spirit Airlines over a possible takeover.
Castlelake previously bailed out collapsed Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) and then sold on its shares to Air France-KLM.
