Spirit Airlines will "engage in discussions" with JetBlue Airways about the latter's unsolicited bid to acquire the ultra-low-cost-carrier, Spirit announced late Thursday. Spirit also said JetBlue's $3.6 billion offer "could reasonably be likely to lead to" a "superior proposal" than Spirit's planned merger with Frontier Airlines.
According to the merger agreement with Spirit, which Frontier filed in February with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Spirit can walk away from the merger if its board determined it has received a "superior proposal" and pays Frontier $94.2 million in cash.
"Spirit remains bound by the terms of the merger agreement with Frontier, and Spirit's Board has not determined that JetBlue's proposal in fact constitutes a Superior Proposal as defined in the merger agreement with Frontier," according to the Spirit statement.
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