---
title: "EasyJet Shares Jump as Apollo Tops a Rival Bid for the Airline"
description: "Shares in EasyJet rose sharply after the budget airline said it was minded to recommend a takeover proposal from the US private equity firm Apollo, worth about £5.7 billion, in preference to a rival bid from Castlelake. Neither approach is a firm offer yet, setting up a possible contest for the carrier."
category: "Business"
category_url: https://newsparlor.com/category/business
author: "Hannah Brooks"
published: 2026-07-10T07:44:00.000Z
updated: 2026-07-10T07:44:00.000Z
canonical: https://newsparlor.com/article/easyjet-shares-jump-as-apollo-tops-a-rival-bid-for-the-airline
tags: ["easyjet", "apollo", "takeover", "aviation", "markets"]
---
# EasyJet Shares Jump as Apollo Tops a Rival Bid for the Airline

Shares in EasyJet rose sharply after the budget airline said it was minded to recommend a takeover proposal from the US private equity firm Apollo, worth about £5.7 billion, in preference to a rival bid from Castlelake. Neither approach is a firm offer yet, setting up a possible contest for the carrier.

Shares in EasyJet climbed sharply on Thursday after the low-cost airline said it was minded to back a takeover proposal from the American private equity firm Apollo Global Management, valuing the company at about £5.7 billion, ahead of a competing bid it had been considering from the investment firm Castlelake. The move, [reported by Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-10/easyjet-gets-rival-offer-from-apollo-that-beats-castlelake-bid), turns a drawn-out pursuit of the carrier into a potential two-way contest.

## The rival bids

Apollo's proposal values EasyJet at £7.15 a share, above the £6.90 a share, or roughly £5.2 billion, that Castlelake had put on the table and that the airline's board had been prepared to recommend only days earlier, [City AM reported](https://www.cityam.com/apollo-trumps-castlelake-to-buy-easyjet-for-5-7bn/). EasyJet said it was "no longer minded to recommend" the Castlelake terms and would instead point shareholders toward Apollo's. Importantly, neither is yet a firm offer: under UK takeover rules the bidders face deadlines in early August to make a binding bid or walk away, so the outcome is not settled.

## Why the shares moved

Investors responded quickly, sending EasyJet's shares up around 14 percent. That reaction reflects two things at once: the higher price Apollo has floated, and the prospect that competition between two well-funded buyers could push the value higher still. It also carries a note of caution, since a bid that is only "in principle" can still fall away, and the share price now sits close to the level the offers imply, leaving little room if the process stalls.

## How it got here

Castlelake had been circling EasyJet for weeks, making a series of steadily rising approaches that the board rejected as too low before it finally engaged with the improved £6.90-a-share terms. Apollo's late intervention changes the picture, and in its proposal it stressed support for EasyJet's existing low-cost strategy, an apparent effort to reassure the board and staff about its intentions. Castlelake now has the choice of raising its own bid, holding firm, or stepping aside.

## What it means

EasyJet is one of Europe's best-known budget airlines, and a takeover by a private equity owner would be a significant change for a company that has been publicly listed for two decades. For now, the immediate beneficiaries are shareholders, who have seen the value of their holdings jump and may yet see more if a bidding war develops. The larger questions, about who ends up owning the airline and what private equity ownership would mean for its strategy, its staff and its passengers, will only be answered once one of the suitors turns an expression of interest into a firm, binding offer.

## Sources

- [EasyJet gets rival offer from Apollo that beats Castlelake bid](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-10/easyjet-gets-rival-offer-from-apollo-that-beats-castlelake-bid)
- [Apollo trumps Castlelake to buy easyJet for £5.7bn](https://www.cityam.com/apollo-trumps-castlelake-to-buy-easyjet-for-5-7bn/)