EasyJet shareholders back £5.7bn Apollo takeover

EasyJet shareholders overwhelmingly backed a £5.7 billion takeover by US private equity firm Apollo on Wednesday, but the deal still needs regulatory approval.

The British low-cost airline said 97 percent of voting shareholders supported the takeover, worth $7.6 billion. The companies hope to finalise it in early 2027.

EasyJet chief executive Kenton Jarvis said after the vote that the airline's purpose of making low-cost travel “easy, affordable and accessible” would remain. “Our customers expect good value,” he told an industry event in London.

Apollo had been in a bidding war with US investment group Castlelake earlier this year for EasyJet, which flies mainly across Europe.

EasyJet's latest earnings showed profit before tax fell 70 percent to £85 million in the three months to the end of June from a year earlier, as the Middle East war pushed up jet fuel prices. The airline is due to publish full-year results later this month.

Britain's transport minister Heidi Alexander told the same industry event that airlines were facing “arguably the most challenging year since the pandemic”.