Castlelake is here. The other suitors are ghosts. After four proposals died in under a month, EasyJet’s board agreed on Sunday to a deal with the US investment firm. Roughly £5.2 billion. Maybe $7 billion, depending on how the day shakes out.
Not done.
Castlelake has until August 3. They can walk. If they stay, shareholders vote. Regulators stare. It gets messy.
The structure? Weird. Castlelake takes 49%. The rest goes to Peter Bellew and Mark Breen. Two EU nationals. One former EasyJet exec, one aerospace consultant. A legal loophole dressed up as ownership. European rules don’t like foreign bosses.
Europe hates outside money for mid-size carriers. Always has. Precedent exists, though. Delta owns nearly half of Virgin Atlantic. That’s been going for more than ten years. Turkish Airlines did a thing too.
