Page 5 - Mac Gardner News Today

Frontier Airlines’ parent company said it would pay a $250 million reverse breakup fee to Spirit Airlines if regulators don’t approve the planned merger.

Spirit Airlines and Frontier Airlines, seeking to strengthen their merger deal in the face of a hostile bid for Spirit by JetBlue Airways, have added a $250 million reverse breakup fee to their proposal ahead of a scheduled shareholder vote on June 10.

/PRNewswire/ -- Spirit Airlines, Inc. ("Spirit" or the "Company") (NYSE: SAVE) today announced that its Board of Directors (the "Board"), after consultation...

The S&P 500 was down 0.9 percent in early trading after falling 4 percent on Wednesday. Stocks in Europe were also sharply lower.

Spirit Airlines is urging shareholders to reject the tender offer that JetBlue proposed earlier this week to purchase all the outstanding Spirit shares.

Citing “substantial regulatory hurdles," Spirit's board continues to favor the Frontier offer over JetBlue's bid. 

Spirit Airlines' board of directors urged its shareholders to reject a hostile takeover offer from JetBlue Airways, alleging the New York-based carrier made a number of misleading statements in its ongoing bid to acquire the South Florida-based discount carrier.

The carrier made a tender offer valued at $3.2 billion, and said it was willing to pay more if Spirit cooperated with an acquisition.

There's a fresh twist to the ongoing airline industry merger saga.

Spirit said antitrust regulators are unlikely to approve JetBlue's offer because of JetBlue's alliance with American Airlines in the Northeast.