easyJet accepts Castlelake’s £5.2 billion ($6.9 billion) acquisition offer

easyJet has accepted a £5.2 billion (US$6.9 billion) acquisition offer from investment firm Castelake, according to reports published by financial media on July 5, 2026.

The offer, to which easyJet’s board has agreed in principle, is the fifth Castlelake has made in a  period of less than a month. Castelake launched its first bid in mid-June 2026 by offering £5.60/share (US$7.4). That offer was rejected outright by the airline’s board for being too low, which prompted the investment firm to keep increasing its bid  to  £6.90 (US$9.2) per share which has finally been accepted.

This bid represents a 24% premium over easyJet’s share price on July 3, 2026, and is 73% above the closing share price on May 29, 2026, the date Castlelake’s interest in the low-cost carrier became publicly known.

This valuation comes quite close to the £7.00 per share which had been reportedly touted by some of easyJet’s shareholders as the threshold for an acceptable offer. 

In 2025 easyJet posted an EBIT (Earnings Before Interest and Tax) of £703 million (US$937million) on revenue of £10.1 billion (US$13.4 billion). The British low-cost airline has seen its revenue and profit increase by nearly 60% since 2019, however its margins have remained more or less flat.

easyJet’s management had stated its aim to take the carrier’s profit before tax above the £1 billion mark (US$1.3 billion) in the near future. One particularly important contributor to the business’ bottom line has been its leisure package business, “easyJet Holidays”, which launched in 2019 and accounted for more than a third of its profits.

Castlelake will now have until August 3, 2026, to present its formal offer.

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