{"id":677111,"date":"2026-07-06T18:16:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T18:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/677111\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T18:16:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T18:16:11","slug":"easyjet-shares-jump-almost-10-after-it-agrees-5-5bn-takeover-bid-easyjet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/677111\/","title":{"rendered":"EasyJet shares jump almost 10% after it agrees \u00a35.5bn takeover bid | easyJet"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shares in easyJet<\/a> surged nearly 10% after the airline agreed to a \u00a35.5bn takeover at the fifth attempt, but analysts said that it showed UK firms were being bought on the cheap.<\/p>\n

The low-cost carrier\u2019s board will recommend shareholders accept an offer price of \u00a36.90 a share from Castlelake, a US private equity firm, after rejecting four previous bids<\/a> of as little as \u00a35.60 per share. EasyJet shares closed at 610p.<\/p>\n

Castlelake will have to table a formal bid by 3 August under City takeover rules.<\/p>\n

It signalled it would back easyJet\u2019s current strategy and was not looking to break up the company in a joint announcement from the airline and its putative new owners on Sunday evening<\/a>.<\/p>\n

EasyJet said that in discussions, Castlelake had \u201cemphasised its tremendous respect for easyJet and its people, along with its intention to support its future growth and transformation to a stronger, more resilient European airline for the benefit of all stakeholders if the transaction proceeds to completion\u201d.<\/p>\n

It said Castlelake was \u201csupportive of easyJet\u2019s fleet modernisation programme, which it regards as central to the company\u2019s long-term competitiveness, efficiency and sustainability objectives\u201d.<\/p>\n

The latest offer also allows current shareholders to remain invested under Castlelake\u2019s ownership should the deal proceed, rather than being forced to divest when it delists.<\/p>\n

The airline\u2019s largest single shareholder, its founder, Stelios Haji-Ioannou, who still owns about 15% of the company along with his family, has yet to comment publicly on the bid.<\/p>\n

City analysts said the deal would raise more concerns about London-listed UK firms being picked off by foreign buyers.<\/p>\n

The brokerage firm XTB\u2019s research director, Kathleen Brooks, said \u201can iconic British aviation name\u201d would be put in US hands. \u201cThis deal is symbolic, as it suggests a lack of stock market growth, and persistent underperformance of UK equities means that there is a massive for sale sign above UK corporates,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The chief investment commentator at the financial services firm Charles Stanley, Garry White, said: \u201cThe number and size of takeover bids from overseas buyers suggest that many UK-listed companies remain significantly undervalued. It is clear UK companies are currently being sold off on the cheap.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Andrew Lobbenberg of Barclays, however, said the bid price was \u201coffering good value to shareholders\u201d as well as an opportunity for Castlelake, with markets tending to undervalue firms ahead of large capital investment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not expect a radical change in the business plan of easyJet. We expect that Castlelake will continue to develop the holidays business and grow the airline modestly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

EasyJet, which has its headquarters at London Luton airport but is predominantly based at Gatwick, employs 19,000 people and flies about 93 million passengers a year. Its shares had fallen by about 30% in the past year before Castlelake\u2019s bid interest emerged.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shares in easyJet surged nearly 10% after the airline agreed to a \u00a35.5bn takeover at the fifth attempt,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":677112,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84,59,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-677111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-gb","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=677111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677111\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/677112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=677111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=677111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=677111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}