EasyJet agreed to a £5.4 billion ($6.7 billion) takeover from U.S. aviation lender Castlelake on Monday, then received an unsolicited £6.2 billion ($7.7 billion) bid from Apollo Global Management by Wednesday. The airline's board granted Apollo until May 9 to submit binding terms, restarting the auction process while Castlelake's exclusivity period remains technically active. EasyJet shares rose 13% to 485 pence in London trading on the Apollo disclosure.

Castlelake's offer valued EasyJet at 450 pence per share, a 19% premium to the undisturbed close before takeover speculation began circulating in late April. Apollo's counter bid implies 515 pence per share, representing a 35% premium to that same baseline. Both firms structured their approaches as cash offers requiring unanimous board recommendation and shareholder approval at 75% threshold. EasyJet operates 339 aircraft across 156 destinations and carried 89.7 million passengers in fiscal 2024, making it Europe's third-largest low-cost carrier behind Ryanair and Wizz Air.

The competing bids mark the largest European airline privatization attempt since IAG's €2.4 billion acquisition of Air Europa collapsed in regulatory review last year. Castlelake manages $23 billion in aviation-linked credit and equity, including existing senior secured positions in Turkish Airlines and LATAM. Apollo oversees $733 billion across alternative credit and has deployed $14 billion into aviation assets since 2019, primarily structured as sale-leaseback arrangements with carriers needing liquidity. The higher Apollo bid reflects the firm's broader balance sheet tolerance for equity risk, while Castlelake's lower entry price aligns with its historical preference for distressed-adjacent credit conversions. EasyJet generated £535 million in operating profit on £9.3 billion revenue for the twelve months ending September 2024, but the carrier's balance sheet still holds £1.7 billion in pandemic-era government-backed debt that matures between 2026 and 2028.

Allocators should track three developments before the May 9 Apollo deadline. First, whether Castlelake raises its bid or walks, which signals how much aviation credit managers will pay for operational control versus structured instruments. Second, whether founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou, who controls 15.27% of shares through easyGroup holdings, publicly backs either offer or demands a higher price. Third, whether UK competition authorities pre-clear either transaction under expedited review, given EasyJet's 24% share of London Gatwick slots and 18% share of intra-European capacity from British airports. The review timeline typically runs 40 working days for phase one unless the Competition and Markets Authority escalates to phase two, which adds four to six months and historically kills 32% of referred deals.

Both bidders require committed debt financing to close, and European aviation credit spreads widened 14 basis points this week as syndicate desks modeled the refinancing load. Apollo's higher bid needs roughly £3.8 billion in new debt to replace existing obligations and fund the equity purchase, assuming 40% leverage at close. Castlelake's structure requires £3.2 billion under similar assumptions. Neither firm has disclosed lead arrangers yet, but the timeline implies commitment letters by late April if May 9 remains the drop-dead date for Apollo's binding offer.