The easyJet Apollo takeover is now a firm deal: easyJet investor relations confirmed on 6 August 2026 that the airline’s board has accepted a Rule 2.7 offer from Apollo Global Management at £7.15 per share, valuing easyJet’s fully diluted equity at £5.7 billion.
The timing matters. The UK Takeover Panel had set a put-up-or-shut-up deadline of 5:00 pm on 7 August 2026 for Apollo to either announce a firm offer or walk away. It moved a day early.
What the easyJet Apollo Takeover Price Actually Means
The £7.15 offer represents an 81% premium to easyJet’s closing price of £3.94 on 28 May 2026, the last trading day before the offer period began, according to Airways Magazine. That is a serious number. An 81% premium is not the language of a friendly consolidation; it is the language of a buyer who wanted to end the auction fast.
The £5.7 billion figure is an equity value, not an enterprise value, it does not reflect easyJet’s debt and cash position. At contemporaneous exchange rates, the equity valuation is approximately $7.7 billion.
Rival suitor Castlelake’s fifth and final possible proposal of £6.90 per share never became a firm Rule 2.7 offer under the UK Takeover Code. Its implied equity valuation sat at approximately £5.5 billion, per IG UK. Apollo’s offer beats that by £200 million at the headline level and by 25 pence per share. Castlelake, having failed to firm up four previous approaches, duly stepped aside.
The Buyer, the Structure, and Who Else Has Skin in the Game
Apollo is not a conventional airline investor. Le Monde reports that Apollo Global Management manages approximately $1 trillion in assets, making easyJet, Europe’s second-largest low-cost carrier behind Ryanair, a substantial but not outlandish addition to its portfolio.
The deal will be implemented through a court-approved scheme of arrangement under Part 26 of the Companies Act 2006. Each easyJet share will be acquired by Eagle Bidco Ltd, a Jersey-incorporated company indirectly owned by funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Capital Management, as set out on Apollo’s UK deal microsite.
Founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou and his family, who hold approximately 15.3% of easyJet’s stock, back the Apollo deal. That is a meaningful bloc of support. With the founder onside, the shareholder approval hurdle looks considerably lower, though it is not cleared yet.
Apollo said it was ‘highly supportive’ of easyJet’s existing strategy, adding there was ‘a significant opportunity to accelerate the operational and commercial ambitions’ for the easyJet Group. Alex van Hoek, partner and European private equity lead at Apollo, described easyJet as ‘a leader in European aviation, having built a differentiated market position through its compelling customer proposition, expansive network and strong brand.’
EasyJet chief executive Kenton Jarvis struck a similarly warm tone: ‘We welcome Apollo’s commitment to our business and our people, and believe that its experience in the aviation sector makes it a strong partner for easyJet.’
That is precisely what a chief executive says when the board has decided the price is right. My read is that it was. An 81% premium, with the founder’s family backing the deal, leaves the independent case for easyJet looking thin.
What Happens Next
The deal is agreed in principle, not done. It still requires easyJet shareholder approval and clearance from regulatory authorities. The scheme of arrangement process typically runs several months from the Rule 2.7 announcement before a court sanctions it and funds change hands.
EasyJet employs more than 19,000 people and operates around 1,200 routes across 35 European countries. It was founded by Sir Stelios in 1995; its first flights, from Luton to Glasgow and Edinburgh, took off in November of that year. Apollo’s stated intention to back existing strategy will be tested against that scale once the deal closes.
The shareholder vote is the next binary moment. With 15.3% already committed, Apollo needs to win over the remaining institutional holders. Given the premium on offer, that looks like the easier half of the approval process. Regulatory clearance in multiple European jurisdictions is the variable that deserves closer watching.
