The U.K. Takeover Panel consented to extending Castlelake's deadline from August 3, giving both suitors until 5 p.m. Friday to commit or walk away
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EasyJet announced Monday that it has aligned the bidding deadlines for Apollo Global Management and Castlelake LP, giving both firms until 5 p.m. on Friday, August 7 to either declare a firm intention to make an offer or announce they will not proceed.
The Panel on Takeovers and Mergers consented to an extension of Castlelake's original "put up or shut up" deadline, which had been set for 5 p.m. on August 3, the company said. Apollo's deadline of August 7 remains unchanged. EasyJet said it requested the extension to align the two deadlines.
EasyJet said both Apollo and Castlelake have had access to due diligence materials since each firm's most recent proposal. Under Rule 2.6(a) of the U.K. City Code on Takeovers and Mergers, each firm must now announce a firm offer or confirm it does not intend to make one by the Friday deadline. The company cautioned that there can be no certainty that any firm offer will be made, and advised shareholders to take no action at this time.
The announcement was made without Apollo's or Castlelake's consent, easyJet said.
The two firms have been competing to acquire the entire issued share capital of easyJet. As easyJet's board agreed in principle to a £7.15 per share cash offer from Apollo on July 10 — a proposal valued at roughly £5.5 billion — it indicated it was no longer minded to recommend Castlelake's earlier offer of £6.90 per share.
Castlelake's £6.90 per share proposal, which the easyJet board had said it would be minded to recommend to shareholders, represented a 73% premium to easyJet stock's close on May 29, the date Castlelake first went public with its interest in acquiring the carrier. A central complication for any deal involving Castlelake involves an E.U. rule requiring that airlines flying within the bloc remain majority-owned and controlled by E.U. nationals. Castlelake structured its proposed acquisition vehicle so that its own stake would be capped at 49%, with the remaining 51% held by E.U. nationals — a structure easyJet's board had previously described as "opaque."
EasyJet's financial advisers on the transaction are Evercore, BNP Paribas, and Panmure Liberum. Clifford Chance LLP is acting as the airline's legal adviser.
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