Frontier Says It Lacks the Votes To Close Spirit Merger; Requests Fourth Vote Delay

Significant Spirit shareholder urges board to vote for JetBlue merger.

Tuesday, July 12, 2022 at 03:55 PM ET

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Frontier's offer to Spirit is for $2.6 billion in cash and stocks. [Courtesy: Frontier Airlines]

Key Takeaways:

Frontier Airlines' CEO Barry Biffle is increasingly concerned about his airline's merger bid for Spirit Airlines, requesting a further delay in the shareholder vote and urging Spirit's board to publicly reaffirm support for Frontier's "last, best, and final" offer.
Frontier argues that JetBlue's competing, higher cash bid faces significant regulatory hurdles that could prevent its completion, portraying a JetBlue-Spirit merger as "impossible" and creating no value, while promoting its own offer as pro-competitive.
Despite Frontier's appeals, a key Spirit shareholder and proxy advisor have deemed JetBlue's offer "superior" and are urging Spirit's board to reject the Frontier merger proposal.

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In late June, Frontier Airlines’ (NASDAQ: ULCC) CEO Barry Biffle was upbeat about the chances of his airline merging with Spirit Airlines (NYSE: SAVE). Now, after Spirit delayed its shareholder vote a third time last week to July 15, to allow more time to deliberate between offers from Frontier and JetBlue (NASDAQ: JBLU), Biffle is beginning to worry.