JetBlue Airways (JBLU) reached a deal to buy Spirit Airlines (SAVE) for $3.8 billion, creating the fifth-largest airline in the U.S. The deal’s announcement on July 28, 2022 came after rival F🍸rontier Group dropped its competing bid to merge with Spirit.

The agreement followed a 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:months-long bidding war between Frontier Group Holdings (ULCC) and JetBlue Airwღays for the disc▨ount airline. 

The deal’s price of $33.50 per share was a 38% premium to Spirit’s closing price on July 27, and inꦍcludes a $2.50 prepayment to investors on approval of the merger, plus a $0.10 per month “ticking fee” beginning in January and lasting until the deal is completed.

The offer was well above Frontier’s bid of approximately $2.8 billion. Frontier and Spirit scrapped their agreement made in February as shareholders were voting on it. The ballot had been delayed four times because of lack of support. Spirit’s board had recommended going with Frontier instead of Je♔tBlue, because of concerns about regulatory approval.

 Challenging the 'Big Four'

The Spirit-JetBlue combination will create the fifth-largest airline in the U.S, with projected annual revenues of ap💎proximately $11.9 billion, based on 2019 revenues. JetBlue said it also expects the transaction to significantly boost earnings per share in the✨ first full year following closing.

JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes said the combination of the two carriers will “continue our shared goal of disrupting the industry to bring down fares from the Big Four airlines.”

The four largest carriers currently control more than 80% of the market, and JetBluꦯe said that together with Spirit, it would contr෴ol roughly 9% of market share.

The acquisition will help JetBlue expand 𝔍its presence in several key cities, including Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, San Juan, and Los Angeles, as well as Big Four airline hubs Las🌞 Vegas, Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta, and Miami, according to a release.

Shares of Spirit Airlines rose over 3% on the news on Thu♉rsday morning. JetBlue Airways shares fell 1.5%.