Spirit Airlines will decide on competing offers between JetBlue and Frontier by the end of June, the board said Tuesday. File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI |
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June 14 (UPI) -- Spirit Airlines' board said Tuesday it will decide between competing bids from JetBlue and Frontier by the end of the month.
The board postponed a meeting where shareholders were expected to vote on the existing Frontier deal from June 10 to June 30 to review the bids.
"The board expects to bring the process to a conclusion and provide an update to stockholders ahead of the Special Meeting of Spirit Stockholders scheduled for Thursday, June 30," Spirit CEO Ted Christie said in a statement on Tuesday.
Prior to the meeting, the board will be in talks with JetBlue over the proposal it received from the airline on June 6, and will continue "to work with Frontier under the terms of the existing merger agreement between Spirit and Frontier," according to the statement.
"As part of this process, Frontier and JetBlue are being given access to the same due diligence information, on the same terms," Christie added.
JetBlue improved upon previous offers to buyout Spirit Airlines on June 6, saying it would pay Spirit $350 million, a portion of which would include a cash payment to shareholders, if regulators do not approve the acquisition.
The proposal came after Frontier Airlines agreed to pay $250 million to Spirit if its deal didn't win regulatory approval.
"Spirit continues to be bound by the terms of its merger agreement with Frontier, under which a 'superior proposal,' is defined as being both reasonably capable of being consummated and more favorable to Spirit's stockholders from a financial point of view," according to Spirit Airlines statement.
"Also, Spirit is providing information requested by the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission for both proposed transactions as part of the ongoing regulatory review process."