US Asset Management Firm Apollo Global Wins Race to Buy EasyJet, for $7.7bn

US asset management giant Apollo Global has won the race to buy EasyJet, with the deadline for bidding on the UK budget airline closing today.

Apollo Global is buying EasyJet for $7.7bn/£5.7bn, having gazumped previous suitor Castlelake last month.

Castlelake’s previous second £5.5bn proposal had been fronted by Irish aviation industry veterans Peter Bellew and Mark Breen, and had been tentatively accepted by EasyJet before Apollo entered the race.

Castlelake, however, bowed out of the running ahead of today’s bid deadline.

EasyJet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou has accepted the Apollo bid and is understood to be holding a large share of the company with other investors in order to meet EU law that European carriers must be majority controlled by European shareholders.