Apollo Global Management just crashed Castlelake’s party. The private equity titan lobbed a £5.7 billion (roughly $7.65 billion) all-cash takeover bid for budget airline easyJet, offering £7.15 per share and leapfrogging Castlelake’s competing offer of £6.90 per share that the easyJet board had backed just days earlier.
The easyJet board, which had been “minded to recommend” Castlelake’s proposal earlier in the week, has now pivoted to favor Apollo’s superior bid. EasyJet shares surged between 13% and 15% on the announcement, hitting price levels not seen since early 2022.
The bidding war heats up
Apollo’s bid includes a notable sweetener: existing shareholders, including the founder’s family, would have the option to maintain a stake in the company rather than being forced to cash out entirely.
Apollo manages over $1 trillion in assets, making it one of the largest alternative asset managers on the planet. Castlelake, while well-established in aviation finance, operates at a considerably smaller scale.
