The board of directors of Spirit Airlines urged its shareholders to reject the hostile takeover attempt of JetBlue Airways, citing regulatory hurdles and accusing the airline of trying to derail its planned merger with Frontier Airlines.
In a statement, the airline said that it believes that the proposals and offer from the airline are a cynical attempt to disrupt the merger of the two airlines.
The hostile takeover bid by JetBlue was launched on Monday after the rejection of the all-cash acquisition bid by Spirit. The price for the tender offer was $30 a share. The offer is not in the best interests of the company and its stockholders, according to a written statement from the board.
At the June 10 Spirit stockholder meeting, JetBlue urged shareholders to reject the Frontier combination. The airline didn't immediately comment.
In February, the airlines announced a $2.9 billion deal to combine.
The $3.6 billion all-cash offer by the airline would grow. There are dozens of narrow-body planes on order from all three airlines. The fifth-largest U.S. carrier would be created by either combination of the airlines.
The tie-up with American was cited by Spirit as a reason why regulators wouldn't approve it.
In premarket trading, Spirit shares were down 2%, while JetBlue shares were fractionally lower.
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