By Colin Kellaher
JetBlue Airways Corp. on Monday said it has sweetened its bid for Spirit Airlines Inc. in an effort to wrest the carrier from its planned union with Frontier Group Holdings Inc.
JetBlue raised the break-up fee it would pay if regulators blocked a deal to buy Spirit to $350 million, or about $3.20 per Spirit share, from $200 million.
JetBlue, which has launched a hostile cash bid of $30 a share for Spirit, also pledged to prepay about $164 million of the break-up fee, or $1.50 a share, as a cash dividend to Spirit investors upon shareholder approval of an acquisition by JetBlue, which would boost total consideration of such a deal to $31.50 a share.
Spirit shareholders are slated to vote Friday on the mostly stock merger with Frontier, which last week added its own $250 million break-up fee to address concerns over potential regulatory roadblocks.
Spirit has rebuffed JetBlue’s overtures, saying a deal with Frontier is more likely to gain regulatory approval.
Spirit shares, which closed Friday at $20.74, rose 7.3% to $22.25 in premarket trading Monday.
Write to Colin Kellaher at colin.kellaher@wsj.com