Will JetBlue's fourth time be the charm?
The New York-based airline made its fourth offer to buy Spirit Airlines since March, and this time, Spirit had provided due diligence to JetBlue.
Spirit signed a merger deal with Frontier Airlines in February, which was the management team's and board's preferred option, but which is valued significantly less than each of JetBlue's four proposals.
JetBlue's newest bid for Spirit is $33.50 per share, or $3.7 billion in total – roughly 68 percent higher than the value of Frontier's merger.
Spirit has claimed that JetBlue's offer was inferior since it did not expect it would be approved by regulators.
Spirit shareholders were supposed to vote on the Frontier merger proposal earlier this month.
Then, last week, Spirit revealed that it was conducting the same due diligence on JetBlue that it did on Frontier.
JetBlue had long complained about Spirit's lack of due diligence, which included sensitive information about the airline.
JetBlue's CEO, Robin Hayes, accused the Spirit team of effectively abandoning them and failing to provide sufficient information.
Frontier and JetBlue were now on equal footing – at least in this regard.
"We are more convinced than ever that a JetBlue-Spirit combination will establish a true national rival to the Big Four and produce value to all of our stakeholders," Hayes said in a statement on Monday, citing conversations with the Spirit team last week and extensive due diligence research.
"By working together, we will be able to provide reduced tickets and a better experience to a larger number of customers."
Spirit stockholders have reacted "very positively" to Hayes' bid to buy the company, according to Hayes.
Spirit stated in a statement that its board was considering JetBlue's fresh offer.
JetBlue's revised bid on Monday included a vow to divest more JetBlue and Spirit assets to satisfy regulators, in addition to raising the sale price.
Items of high significance to the combined corporation, such as gates and slots at congested northeast airports, could be among these assets.
JetBlue had previously stated that it would offload Spirit assets in its two major markets, New York and Boston.
Indeed, it is questionable if authorities will be satisfied with this agreement.
JetBlue wants to keep its valued Northeast Alliance with American Airlines, which is the airline's most important strategic collaboration. However, many observers predict that antitrust officials at the Justice Department will not allow JetBlue to buy Spirit and keep its cooperation with American.
If the acquisition is blocked by antitrust regulators, JetBlue will pay Spirit a $350 million reverse break-up fee.
But, as has been the case throughout this multi-month odyssey, what happens next is anyone's guess.
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