Spirit Airlines Delays Vote Again to Continue Merger Talks

For all who hoped for some resolution to the months-long saga over the future of Spirit Airlines on June 30, no go. The carrier has postponed a shareholder vote on a merger with Frontier Airlines to July 8.

Spirit will immediately open and close the June 30 meeting with no vote in order for its board to “continue discussions” with both preferred suitor Frontier and hostile bidder JetBlue Airways, the Florida-based discounter said late Wednesday. This is the second time Spirit has delayed a shareholder vote, which was first scheduled for June 10.

Frontier is offering shareholders $4.13 plus 1.91 of its own shares for each Spirit share plus a $350 million reverse break-up fee, while JetBlue is offering at least $33.50 per share to up to $34.15 a share based on certain conditions and a $400 million break-up fee. All in, Frontier’s offer is worth $2.4 billion and JetBlue’s nearly $3.8 billion, according to an analysis by Raymond James.

The resulting airline from either a Spirit-Frontier or Spirit-JetBlue merger will be the fifth largest in the U.S. with a roughly 8 percent share of the market.