JetBlue is going hostile in its bid for Spirit Airlines and asking shareholders of the low-cost carrier to reject a proposed acquisition by Frontier Airlines.
JetBlue, in going straight to shareholders with its offer, wants to push Spirit’s board to the negotiatingtable.
On Monday, shares of Spirit, based in Miramar, Florida, jumped 12% in midday trading.
JetBlue pitched a new offer of $30 per share in cash, or more than $3.2 billion, to Spirit stockholders but said its April 5 offer of $33 per share is still available if Spirit enters negotiations.
Spirit’s board rejected JetBlue’s original $3.6 billion bid on May 2, saying antitrust regulators are unlikely to approve an offer from the New York City airline largely because of its alliance with American Airlines in the Northeast. The Justice Department is suing to block that deal.
Shareholders of Spirit Airlines Inc. are scheduled to vote June 10 on the Frontier bid, which is favored unanimously by the Spirit board. The cash-and-stock offer was valued at $2.9 billion when announced in February, but Frontier’s shares have dropped 30% since, reducing the value of the deal.
JetBlue said its new offer is lower because of Spirit’s unwillingness to share financial information that JetBlue requested.
“The Spirit Board failed to provide us the necessary diligence information it had provided Frontier and then summarily rejected our proposal, which addressed its regulatory concerns, without asking us even a single question about it,” JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes wrote in a letter. “The Spirit Board based its rejection on unsupportable claims that are easily refuted.”