Billionaire Easyjet founder in line for £800m payday from takeover
Easyjet founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou could be in line for a bumper £800m payday as part of the airline’s proposed takeover by private equity firm Castlelake.
The British-Cypriot entrepreneur, who founded the company in 1995, holds some 116m shares in the budget carrier and will net a huge payout should he decide to sell his stake as part of the deal, according to Morning Wire analysis.
Easyjet’s board said on Sunday night that it is poised to accept Castlelake’s fifth takeover bid, which values the company at £5.5bn.
The final £6.90-per-share bid came after weeks of wrangling between the Easyjet and its Minnesota-based suitor, in which the bidder criticised the carrier for its “unwillingness to engage meaningfully” with its interest.
‘Opportunistic’ bid
Easyjet had rebuffed Castlelake’s previous bids as “opportunistic” and coming at a time when its shares had fallen in response to the travel chaos caused by the Iran war.
However, analysts have speculated that Stelios would be reluctant to give up his 15 per cent stake in the firm.
“While £800 million would be a massive payday for Stelios Haji-Ioannou, he isn’t the sort of person to give up an investment just because someone is offering a plate of cash,” AJ Bell head of markets Dan Coatsworth told Morning Wire.
The businessman is “incredibly passionate” about Easyjet and would not “want someone taking over and not doing what’s best for the brand long-term,” he added.
It is still unclear whether Haji-Ioannau backs the deal. Easyjet and Haji-Ioannou declined to comment.
Easyjet deal shows UK firms ‘for sale’
The airline’s likely departure from the London Stock Exchange comes amid a flurry of private interest in publicly-traded stalwarts.
Kathleen Brooks, research director at stock broker XTB, said: “This deal is symbolic, as it suggests a lack of stock market growth, and persistent underperformance of UK equities means that there is a massive for sale sign above US corporate.”
Castlelake was founded by American banker Rory O’Neill in 2005 and specialises in asset based lending, including leasing planes to airlines.
Since founding the airline more than 30 years ago, Haji-Ioannou has sought to expand his “Easy” empire into a wide range of markets, including dog grooming, sports betting and bitcoin.
The businessman is known for pursuing opponents in court. He lost a libel case against a Telegraph opinion article in 2020 and has sought trademark claims against multiple companies which use “easy” in their name.
Easyjet’s share price jumped 10 per cent on Monday to 611p, as the stock continued to cover from the 340p lows seen in March and April.