US investment firm Castlelake has publicly unveiled a £4.74 billion takeover bid for budget airline EasyJet, following repeated rejections of its proposals.
The private credit company, which already holds approximately 2.14 per cent of EasyJet shares, confirmed it made a third approach on 20 June, valuing the carrier at 625p per share.
This latest offer was swiftly turned down by EasyJet the very next day. Castlelake stated it is now taking its proposal directly to EasyJet shareholders, alleging the airline has declined to engage “meaningfully” with its advances.
This public move comes after two earlier, unsuccessful bids from Castlelake, which were pitched at 560p and 600p per share respectively.
Castlelake said: “As with the second proposal, Castlelake expected that the third proposal would elicit prompt engagement from the easyJet board.
“However, the easyJet board rejected the third proposal on 21 June 2026.
“Following the rejection of three proposals by the easyJet board, and given its unwillingness to engage meaningfully, Castlelake is announcing this third proposal to enable easyJet shareholders to consider its merits and provide their views on the third proposal to the easyJet board,” it added.
It comes ahead of the upcoming so-called Put-up or Shut-up deadline set by the Takeover Panel at 5pm on 26 June.
Castlelake insisted its latest possible bid offered “compelling value”, at a premium of around 59 per cent on the 394.20p price of easyJet shares at market close on 28 May, which was the day before its interest in the airline became public.
Luton-based EasyJet branded Castlelake’s initial interest as “highly opportunistic” in its first response on 1 June.
EasyJet said the takeover interest came at a time when its share price has been pushed lower by worries over the impact of the Iran war on the airline sector.
The FTSE 250 firm’s shares were down around 30 per cent in the past year, before news of the bid interest.
It also highlighted its strong financial position and said it remained focused on its medium-term target to deliver more than £1 billion in pre-tax profits.
EasyJet added at the time there was “considerable regulatory, financial and other execution challenges associated with a potential takeover of easyJet”.
Led by executive chairman and founder Rory O’Neill, Castlelake and has assets under management worth 36 billion US dollars (£27.3 billion).
It entered talks in January with bankrupt US carrier Spirit Airlines over a possible takeover.
Castlelake has also previously bailed out collapsed Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) and then sold on its shares to Air France-KLM.