Shareholders in easyJet have voted decisively in favour of a £5.7 billion takeover by Apollo, the American private equity group, moving the budget airline a major step closer to private ownership.
At meetings held on Wednesday, 11 November, 97.07 per cent of the scheme shares voted backed the deal, while 83.29 per cent of voting shareholders supported it. A separate general meeting also passed the resolution needed to put the takeover into effect, with 96.67 per cent of votes cast in favour.
Under the terms agreed in August, shareholders will receive 715 pence in cash for each share they hold, valuing the Luton-based carrier at about £5.7 billion, or roughly $7.6 billion. Apollo is buying the airline through Eagle Bidco, a company owned indirectly by funds managed by the investment firm.
If the deal completes as planned, easyJet will leave the London Stock Exchange after more than 26 years as a listed company, having first joined the market in 2000. Its board had already recommended the offer when it was announced in the summer.
The takeover still has hurdles to clear. It needs approval from the High Court and from regulators before it can take effect, and the airline is aiming for completion before the end of March 2027.
European ownership rules remain the big test
The trickiest question is European ownership. Because easyJet is based in Britain but flies across the continent on European licences, a majority of its shares are supposed to be held by investors based in the European Union. At the time of Wednesday’s meetings, investors in the EU held only 35.07 per cent of the shares, and voting rights attached to about 233.9 million shares held by non-EU investors were suspended.
Apollo’s deal is structured so that its funds will hold up to 49.9 per cent of the company, with shareholders who choose shares instead of cash holding between 45.1 and 49.9 per cent, and a European trust holding up to 5 per cent. European officials are also preparing a review of airline ownership rules, which could affect how much effective control a foreign investor can hold.
Apollo won the airline after a bidding contest in the summer with Castlelake, another American investment firm, which had offered £5.5 billion, or 690 pence a share, before walking away.
The deal also had the backing of Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the airline’s founder, whose family interests speak for more than 15 per cent of the company. easyJet chief executive Kenton Jarvis said it was now over to the regulators and that the airline still expected the transaction to close in the first quarter of 2027. The Times reported that bankers, lawyers and public relations advisers stand to share a fee pool worth £334.5 million if the deal goes ahead.
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