EasyJet rejects takeover bid
Budget carrier easyJet plans to raise up to £1.2 billion after revealing it rejected a takeover bid.
The airline said it ‘received an unsolicited preliminary takeover approach’ from an unnamed party which is not considering an improved offer.
The takeover was unanimously rejected by the easyJet board.
EasyJet said it needed to raise more cash to see it through a recovery phase which is taking much longer than expected.
In March, easyJet posted a half-year loss of £701 million before tax.
The airline may not recover to pre-pandemic levels until 2023, it says.
It expects to passenger volumes to be less than 60% of 2019 levels during the final quarter of 2021.
Johan Lundgren, easyJet’s chief executive, said the bid ‘fundamentally undervalued’ the business and ‘took the form of a low premium and highly conditional all-share transaction.’
The board had ‘no hesitation’ in rejecting the offer.
Lundgren declined to say which company made the bid or even if it was another rival airline.
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