JetBlue Airways’ hostile takeover bid for Spirit Airlines took a bitter turn on Thursday as the board of directors of the South Florida-based discount carrier urged its shareholders to spurn the offer.
In a statement, the board accused Spirit’s New York-based rival of making “inaccurate statements and mischaracterizations” about Spirit’s reaction to its offer and asserted that Spirit shareholders would be unable to participate in any upside stock price action if they opted for JetBlue’s hostile offer, which is now capped at $30 a share.
The board noted that an earlier merger proposal submitted by Frontier Airlines of Denver offers better upside as Spirit investors would become 48% owners of a merged Frontier-Spirit operation. A shareholder vote on the Frontier deal is scheduled for June 10.
