JetBlue abandons troubled US$3.8B offer for Spirit Airlines
BNN Bloomberg
JetBlue Airways Corp. formally abandoned its pursuit of Spirit Airlines Inc. more than a month after a federal judge blocked the US$3.8 billion acquisition on antitrust grounds.
The carriers reached an agreement to walk away after determining that terms of the pact, including “receiving necessary legal and regulatory approvals, were unlikely to be met” by dates specified in the deal, JetBlue said Monday in a statement.
The company — which is also facing pressure from activist investor Carl Icahn to return to sustainable growth — will pay Spirit $69 million and the agreement resolves all outstanding matters related to the deal. Spirit confirmed the news in a separate statement.
“We concluded that current regulatory obstacles will not permit us to close this transaction in a timely fashion under the merger agreement,” said Spirit Chief Executive Officer Ted Christie.
