With a fateful vote a day away, Spirit Airlines Inc. is standing alone at the altar despite having two suitors that have spent months trying to acquire the low-cost carrier.
Spirit’s proposed merger with Frontier Group Holdings Inc. doesn’t have enough support from shareholders, and the acquirer has said it’s not sweetening the terms of the deal any further. Meanwhile, Spirit’s talks with would-be merger partner JetBlue Airways Corp. have yet to produce a breakthrough, people familiar with the discussions said.
Spirit shareholders are set to decide on Frontier’s $2.6 billion cash-and-stock proposal on Wednesday, a vote that has been delayed four times already but is likely to go forward as planned this time, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. The agreement, reached in February, was upended by an all-cash JetBlue bid that now exceeds $3.7 billion. Some investors prefer the higher offer, though Spirit and Frontier have argued JetBlue is more likely to be blocked by antitrust regulators.
