Spirit Airlines Inc (NYSE: SAVE) on Wednesday postponed a key shareholder vote on a proposed deal with Frontier Group Holding Inc (NASDAQ: ULCC) until next week.
What Happened: The Florida-based airline said it aims to discuss more options with Frontier and rival suitor JetBlue Airways Corp (NASDAQ: JBLU).
This is the second time Spirit has postponed the vote and said the meeting will now reconvene on July 8.
The development comes a day after JetBlue sweetened its offer to buy Spirit, which the latter rejected and instead, recommended shareholders to vote in favor of a merger with Frontier at a meeting on Thursday.
See Also: JetBlue Won't Take No For An Answer, Makes Another Bid For Spirit Airlines
Takeover War: The battle for Spirit began in February with Frontier’s cash-and-stock offer of $25.83 a share. JetBlue entered the bid in early April with an all-cash $33 per share, or $3.6 billion, bid for Spirit.
The airline rejected JetBlue’s offer a month later, citing the lower possibility of securing regulatory approval.
Spirit called for a shareholder meeting on June 10 to vote on its proposed merger with Frontier, even as JetBlue upped the hostile offer and sweetened the deal.
JetBlue on Wednesday issued a letter to Spirit shareholders ahead of the meeting, saying its cash offer of $33.5 per share was superior and has “a premium of 51% to the implied value of the Frontier transaction,” and has greater regulatory commitments, including a larger reverse break-up fee of $400 million.
Price Action: SAVE closed 1.8% lower at $22.4 on Wednesday and was trading 1.9% up in after-hours, according to data from Benzinga Pro.
Photo via Thiago B Trevisan on Shutterstock
