easyJet board agrees in principle with Apollo at £7.15 a share

Bidding war for easyJet: After several offers from Castlelake (most recently GBP 6.90 per share, with the board inclined to recommend it on 5 July), Apollo tabled GBP 7.15 per share on 8 July; on 10 July 2026 the easyJet board reached an agreement in principle with Apollo. UPDATE (3 August 2026): The two bidders' put-up-or-shut-up deadlines were aligned: Castlelake's deadline, originally expiring on 3 August, was extended with the UK takeover authorities' consent, so that both Castlelake and Apollo must now either table a firm offer or walk away by 5.00 p.m. UK time on 7 August 2026. Update (6 Aug 2026): The bidding contest is settled. Castlelake said that after several weeks of discussions with the board and management it would not proceed to a firm offer — its fifth and final public proposal had stood at £6.90 per share. Apollo then made a firm Rule 2.7 cash offer of £7.15 per share (roughly £5.7bn / $7.7bn), which the easyJet board supports. Shareholder, regulatory and court approvals are still outstanding; Castlelake expressly reserved the right to return should a third party make a firm offer. Sources: Bloomberg and CNBC, 6 August 2026. Update (7 August 2026): Founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou and his family, who hold around 15.3% of easyJet, have agreed to support the transaction — removing one of the largest shareholder hurdles. The structure caps the Apollo funds at no more than 49.9% of the acquisition vehicle; retained qualifying European shareholders and an EU management trust are intended to preserve the European ownership and control easyJet needs for its EU traffic rights, an arrangement regulators still have to assess. Source: Airways Magazine, 7 August 2026. Update (24 Oct 2026): easyJet published the scheme document for the Apollo takeover on 15 Oct 2026, within the deadline; the cash price stays at £7.15 per share (about £5.6bn valuation), the Court Meeting and General Meeting are set for 11 Nov 2026 and completion is still targeted by the end of Q1 2027 (Airways Magazine, 19 Oct 2026).