EasyJet takeover battle ends with shareholders in line for cash boost

The ongoing bidding war for commercial airline EasyJet has come to a resolution, with Apollo finally securing the deal.

The takeover battle at EasyJet has come into land as initial suitor Castlelake walked away, leaving the path clear for rival bidder Apollo’s £5.7 billion bid to be agreed. As a result, the large cohort of retail shareholders in the budget airline could now be in line for a healthy windfall, depending on when they purchased their shares.

Like many of its rivals, EasyJet endured share price turbulence thanks to the conflict in the Middle East and Castlelake’s interest in the airline first emerged in late May with a firm bid of 560p per share made in mid-June.

Low-cost carriers are more exposed to the increase in fuel costs from the energy price shock given the need to keep a lid on fares to sustain their value credentials. Plus, their cohort of customers’ ability and willingness to spend is disproportionately affected by renewed inflationary pressures.

How the bid played out

After being rebuffed three times by EasyJet behind the scenes, Castlelake made a £4.7 billion takeover proposal public on 22 June. After more toing and froing, Castlelake eventually looked to have won the board over with a 690p offer.

The emergence of Apollo as another interested party has helped drive the eventual price tag up to 715p – an 81% premium to the undisturbed share price of 394p. Crucially, Apollo has secured the backing of founder and major shareholder Stelios Haji-Ioannou, as well as EasyJet’s board.

Someone fortunate enough to have made a £1,000 investment in the shares at their 52-week low on 18 May (shortly before news of the bid interest emerged) would have more than doubled their money with a £1,029 gain based on the current share price.

Assuming the deal goes through at the agreed price, this gain would be £1,149. The difference between the current share price and the 715p per share bid reflects the reality that this deal still needs to clear some hurdles – including getting clearance from the relevant regulatory authorities.

The bid is at a premium to the price before the Iran conflict began in February, but it is worth noting that longer-term holders may be less thrilled with the terms given the shares traded at more than double the takeout price at their highs in the mid-to-late 2010s. Though EasyJet’s highest closing price in the four-year period before bid interest emerged was 588p.

Investors have a choice of selling the shares in the market now or waiting for the deal to play out to get the full 715p. As well as featuring in the top 30 most widely held UK-listed companies on the AJ Bell platform, EasyJet has been one of the most heavily sold equities among AJ Bell customers in the last two months, suggesting some holders have already sold out and moved on.

While there is an option for a portion of the shareholder base to rollover their interest into unlisted shares, in practical terms this alternative will be limited to large institutions and major shareholders like Stelios and his family.

What happens now?

For anyone holding the shares on a modern investment platform, they will likely receive a corporate action notification with all the key information in September, including instructions on how to vote on their shares (though voting is not a prerequisite to receiving the cash).

Assuming the deal gets the necessary backing from shareholders and secures regulatory sign-off, with EasyJet guiding for completion in March next year, cash will be paid directly into retail holders’ investment accounts. If owned in an ordinary share dealing account, this will count as a disposal for tax purposes and may be liable for Capital Gains Tax (CGT).

If held within an ISA or SIPP, the profits are out of reach of HMRC and can be reinvested elsewhere without fretting about any tax implications.

What happens if offers are made using shares?

According to AJ Bell data, EasyJet is the 39th deal announced (which has been completed or remains live) so far in 2026, with the total aggregate value of £72.5 billion dwarfing both the rough £36 billion annual average over the preceding five years and the £29.1 billion seen in the whole of 2025. The average premium paid by bidders year-to-date is 39%, roughly in line with the 43% average between 2021 and 2025.

While Apollo is offering cash for EasyJet, companies do use their own shares to fund deals partially or fully – this applies to nine of the UK deals to emerge in 2026. In this case, once a deal completes a holder will see their old shares disappear to be replaced by new shares in the bidding company based on a specified exchange ratio. For example, that could be two shares from the bidding company for every five held in the firm being acquired.

If held in a standard dealing account without tax protection, the share-based element is not treated as a disposal for CGT purposes, with any tax deferred until you sell the new shares.