After receiving two takeover offers in April and may, the board executives of spirit Airlines (save. US) once again flatly rejected the initiative of JetBlue Airlines (jblu. US) to acquire the low-cost airline on Thursday and supported the merger plan with frontier Group Holdings (ULCC. US).
Mac Gardner, chairman of the board of directors, said: "JetBlue's takeover offer does not address the risk that the transaction may not be completed, nor does it provide sufficient protection for spirit shareholders. According to our own research and the suggestions of antitrust and economic experts, our view is that the proposed merger of JetBlue and spirit lacks any practical possibility of obtaining regulatory approval, and our company faces a long and gloomy period of waiting for a solution Period of uncertainty. "
He added that during the regulatory review, provisions related to reverse breakup fees and potential business interruption made the transaction unlikely to succeed.
The statement also expressed concern that the U.S. Department of justice is currently reviewing the cooperation between JetBlue and American Airlines (AAL. US). Lingering regulatory review is the key to spirit's management rejecting the proposed transaction, which also indicates that management will not consider accepting the transaction at almost any price.
In addition, the company also explicitly opposed the accusation made by Robin Hayes, CEO of JetBlue airlines, that the company lacked consideration of the acquisition offer and was improperly influenced by major shareholders. In fact, spirit even made it clear that it believed JetBlue's offer was just a distraction, not a real acquisition.
Spirit said on Thursday: "Spirit believes that JetBlue's proposal and offer is an attempt to harm others and benefit itself. The purpose is to destroy the merger between spirit and frontier, and JetBlue regards frontier as a competitive threat. After the frontier merger agreement was announced, JetBlue waited more than seven weeks to submit the proposal to purchase spirit, and JetBlue chose to start the acquisition offer shortly after the frontier merger agent statement was mailed to spirit shareholders. This time point It doesn't seem to be a coincidence. "
The statement also said that Robin Hayes, CEO of JetBlue, was very familiar with Ted Christie, CEO of spirit, but they had never discussed any business merger. In fact, this has never been a topic of discussion, which proves that this series of offers is just a trick.
Finally, spirit's statement questioned JetBlue's transaction price. "Whenever JetBlue publicly comments on the proposed deal with spirit, JetBlue's share price will continue to fall. JetBlue's shareholders clearly believe that their company's unrealistic acquisition of spirit is a dead end and will bring great risks to their own business," the statement said