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JetBlue Airways has finally been announced as the buyer of Spirit Airlines after winning in the acquisition battle. The Long Island City-headquartered low-cost airline, which is also the seventh largest in North America based on passengers carried, has reached a deal to acquire the Florida-based ultra-low-cost carrier for $3.8 billion.
According to CNBC, JetBlue Airways will be paying Spirit Airlines $33.50 per share in cash. The deal was announced just hours after the latter cancelled its merger plans with Frontier Airlines.
With the buyout, JetBlue is set to become the fifth-largest carrier in the United States. Also, if the regulators approve the deal, it will leave Frontier as the largest discount airline in the country.
It was reported that the surprise bid of JetBlue Airways in April for the acquisition of Spirit, offering an all-cash payment, came as a big surprise at that time. The bid also effectively threw out Spirit Airline’s plan to merge with Frontier.
It was noted that JetBlue and Frontier have been competing to buy Spirit and the battle went on for months. The two companies dropped some serious offers, which they continue to sweeten up to win the bid. However, as mentioned earlier, Frontier’s bid to merge with Spirit, which was the original plan fell apart this week, which resulted in JetBlue’s win in the bidding war.
Previously, Spirit rejected JetBlue’s bid by saying the regulators were unlikely to approve the deal. And in fact, the deal really faced a big hurdle from the regulatory board, partly due to JetBlue’s alliance with America Airlines. Spirit’s share price soared by four percent in premarket trading moments after the deal with JetBlue was announced.
“We are excited to deliver this compelling combination that turbocharges our strategic growth, enabling JetBlue to bring our unique blend of low fares and exceptional service to more customers, on more routes,” JetBlue’s chief executive officer, Robin Hayes, said in a press release.
The CEO went on to say, “We look forward to welcoming Spirit’s outstanding Team Members to JetBlue and together creating a customer-centric, fifth-largest carrier in the United States. Spirit and JetBlue will continue to advance our shared goal of disrupting the industry to bring down fares from the Big Four airlines.”
