EasyJet agrees £5.7bn takeover by US firm Apollo

EasyJet is changing hands

Apollo said it wants to help the carrier grow and does not intend to cut any jobs in the first 12 months after completion, implying passengers can expect largely the same service.

As BBC News reported, the agreement follows months of uncertainty for a business that carries more travellers than many rival UK airlines, employing more than 19,000 people across around 1,200 routes in 35 European countries.

What the EasyJet takeover means for passengers

Under Apollo's offer, EasyJet shareholders will receive £7.15 per share. Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, who founded the airline in 1995 and whose family still owns around 15%, backed the deal.

My family and I intend to remain invested as long-term major shareholders of EasyJet for the next chapter in the company's journey.

Not everyone is convinced of the price. AJ Bell's head of financial analysis, Danni Hewson, said the offer was above where shares traded before the Iran war but remained “woefully short of the company's pre-pandemic highs”. Attention now turns to whether shareholders will vote the takeover through.