A United States investment firm has made a third offer to take over easyJet, publishing the details of its increased bid to tempt shareholders, while the carrier accused the would-be buyers of lowballing.
Castlelake, a Minnesota-headquartered credit and asset management company, revealed it was proposing £4.74 billion ($6.26 billion or €5.49 billion) for the European airline, representing a share price of £6.25, giving shareholders a premium of nearly 60% over easyJet’s 29 May value and a 24% premium to the closing price on 19 June. Previous offers of £5.60 and £6.00 have been rejected by the airline.
Impatience at easyJet’s intransigence appears to be growing, with Castlelake issuing a statement accusing the carrier of “unwillingness to engage meaningfully” in the purchase process.
Castlelake made public its $6.26 billion takeover plan for easyJet, ramping up pressure on the board of the budget airline, which promptly rejected it as 'opportunistic' https://t.co/nvs7UCLMuO pic.twitter.com/EtGCkAFfqd
— Reuters (@Reuters) June 22, 2026
Meanwhile, easyJet has insisted that the investors are undervaluing it, calling the offer “highly opportunistic” and an attempt to buy them out “on the cheap.” The airline maintains its share price has been “temporarily depressed” amid the dampening effect of the Middle East conflict on the travel industry.
The US firm already holds a 2.14% stake in easyJet through its fund management, but is not technically allowed to be a majority stakeholder in a European airline due to European Union regulations that prevent non-regional majority ownership in aviation.
To work around that rule, Castlelake has devised a structure that would see it partnering with two EU businesspeople: Peter Bellew, former chief operating officer at the airline, and Mark Breen, an aviation doyen and aerospace consultancy owner. The ownership model is similar to that of other carriers, it said, and a “deliverable solution to ensure compliance with all applicable regulatory requirements.”
However, Bellew is a controversial figure among some staff at easyJet. He left the company in 2022, having been unpopular due to a management approach that unions argued failed to adequately plan for post-COVID staff shortages, leading to severe disruption and mass cancellations.
EasyJet has rejected the workaround as an “opaque” structure that did not provide confidence in the takeover’s deliverability. Still, Castlelake appears to be encouraging shareholders to overlook any concerns over share value or future management style by offering them a partial equity alternative. It has described its most recent barter as offering “compelling value” to the carrier’s shareholders.
Some commentators might say investors attached to the carrier would do well to be cautious. Castlelake’s activity in the aviation sector includes acquisition, management, and leasing, and corporate financing, but it has also restructured airlines such as Scandinavia’s SAS with significant, permanent job losses forming part of court-approved cost-cutting.
