Spirit shareholders urged to vote for sweetened Frontier offer
Spirit Airlines has been the subject of a bidding war between Frontier Group and JetBlue Airways since April
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Frontier Group's latest offer for Spirit Airlines has the advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services Inc (ISS) reversing its opinion about a deal.
ISS is now urging shareholders of Spirit Airlines to vote for a proposed merger with Frontier's parent company.
That's a change from a month ago when the advisory firm asked Spirit shareholders to reject Frontier's offer, saying JetBlue's competing offer of $30 a share is superior from a financial standpoint.
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A Frontier Airlines airplane taxis past a Spirit Airlines aircraft at Indianapolis International Airport in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Since early April, Spirit has been the subject of a bidding war between Frontier and JetBlue Airways Corp.
THE RACE FOR SPIRIT AIRLINES: JETBLUE, FRONTIER JOCKEY FOR WIN
"On balance, support for the merger with Frontier on the revised terms is warranted," the proxy advisory firm said in a report published late Friday.
Spirit Airlines on Friday said that Frontier sweetened its offer, raising its cash offer by $2 per share and urged its shareholders to back a merger deal with Frontier at a meeting next week.
A JetBlue airliner lands past a Spirit Airlines jet on taxi way at Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport. (Joe Cavaretta/Sun Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images / Getty Images)
JetBlue had sweetened its offer for Spirit by $2 to $33.50 per share in cash, earlier this month.
A vote by Spirit shareholders on the merger with Frontier is set for June 30.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SAVE | SPIRIT AIRLINES INC. | 3.40 | -0.30 | -8.23% |
| ULCC | FRONTIER GROUP HOLDINGS | 5.77 | +0.01 | +0.17% |
ISS said the current offer from Frontier matches the $2.00 increase in JetBlue's offer price and also provides a higher prepayment of $2.22 per share compared to $1.50 per share from JetBlue.
JETBLUE OFFERS TO BUY SPIRIT AIRLINES FOR ABOUT $3.6 BILLION CASH
Frontier also increased its reverse termination fee to Spirit by $100 million to $350 million.
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Spirit has repeatedly rejected JetBlue's offer on concerns about winning approval from U.S. regulators.
Reuters contributed to this report.