Apollo Global Management's £5.7bn takeover of easyJet
Hussain Jeddy · 7 August 2026
Share on LinkedInOn 6 August 2026, the boards of Eagle Bidco Ltd (an Apollo controlled vehicle company) and easyJet plc announced a recommended cash acquisition of the entire issued share capital of easyJet at £7.15 per share, valuing the company at approximately £5.7 billion, an 81% premium to easyJet's undisturbed share price. The deal followed a competing bid process. A rival private equity firm Castlelake withdrew after declining to top Apollo's offer.
easyJet is a pan-European low-cost airline carrying over 100 million passengers a year across 37 countries to 165 airports, with a growing Holidays business alongside the core airline. Apollo Global Management is a US alternative asset manager with prior aviation investments including Sun Country, Aeromexico, and Atlas Air.
A recommended cash acquisition to be implement by a court-sanctioned scheme of arrangement (takeover method where shareholders vote on the deal and the court must approve it before it becomes binding on everyone) under Part 26 of the Companies Act 2006, which is the standard UK public to private takeover mechanism. Shareholders have a cash, or rollover choice. easyJet shareholders can either cash out or roll their shares into the new deal structure, but Apollo is capped to satisfy EU/UK airline ownership and control rules. Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou's family (15.31% of shares) has given an irrevocable undertaking to elect for rollover shares and remain long-term shareholders. Subject to shareholder and regulatory approval, the deal is expected by Q1 2027.
Barclays is lead financial adviser to Apollo's BidCo, with PJT Parters and Citigroup also advising Apollo. Evercore is the lead financial adviser. On the legal side, Paul Weiss advised Apollo, and Clifford Chance advised easyJet, and Macfarlanes advised Sir Stelios.
This is one of the largest UK public to private PE deals of the year, and a notable test of the 'stub equity' structure (letting existing shareholders roll over into a private vehicle), in a heavily regulated sector where foreign or private ownership caps constrain deal structuring. Furthermore, it is being done by a court-approved scheme of arrangement, which means shareholders must vote and the deal needs court approval, making the UK takeover mechanics central to whether it succeeds.
Update — 25 August 2026
easyJet and Apollo have pushed back the deadline for publishing the formal Scheme Document (the detailed circular shareholders need to vote on a UK court-approved scheme of arrangement) from 3 September to 15 October 2026, moving the expected shareholder Court Meeting and General Meeting back to the week of 9 November. Both companies attribute the delay to ongoing talks with aviation regulators, against the backdrop of an EU review of airline ownership-and-control rules that could affect whether Apollo's US-led ownership structure satisfies requirements that EU-licensed airlines remain majority EU-controlled.
This matters because it is a real slip in the transaction timetable. It signals the regulatory path on airline ownership rules is more contested than it looked at signing. Both companies still say they're targeting completion by end of Q1 2027