Spirit Airlines Delays Vote On Merger With Frontier

Spirit Airlines announced Wednesday that it has postponed a Friday meeting in which shareholders were slated to vote on a plan to merge with Frontier Airlines. The meeting was moved to June 30.

The announcement comes two days after JetBlue Airways, which has its own plan to acquire Spirit, sweetened its offer for the carrier by $150 million, saying it would pay Spirit $350 million in the “unlikely” event that a merger between the two carriers failed to win regulatory approval. A portion of that reverse breakup fee would include a cash payment to shareholders.

That revised proposal came after Frontier said last week that it would offer a $250 million reverse breakup fee if its proposed deal with Spirit wasn’t approved by regulators.

Spirit said the delay will give its board of directors time to continue discussions with Spirit shareholders, as well as with Frontier and JetBlue.

“I know this delay may be frustrating, I’m sure you were eager to hear the results of the shareholder vote and have a better idea of what lies ahead,” Spirit chief executive Ted Christie wrote in a note to employees Wednesday. “Let me reassure you as we go through this process, we remain focused on the well-being of our Spirit family.”

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