Paul Weiss has landed the lead role advising Apollo Management on its £5.7bn takeover bid for easyJet, following recent bids made by rival investment firm Castlelake.
easyJet has reached an agreement in principle with Apollo, on a deal that values the budget airline at £7.15 per share – a significant 81% premium to easyJet’s share price of £3.94 at close of business on 28 May 2026, and above Castlelake’s most recent offer of £6.90 per share.
Five days ago the budget airline announced that it had reached an agreement in principle with Castlelake. However, today it announced that the board was ‘no longer minded to recommend the Castlelake proposal,’ and that Apollo’s offer ‘delivers a superior outcome for easyJet’s shareholders.’
The Paul Weiss team acting for long-standing client Apollo is based primarily out of the firm’s London office, and includes European public M&A head Dan Schuster-Woldan, UK public M&A co-head Matthew Hearn, and M&A partners Chris Sullivan, Oliver Marcuse, and Francesca Storey-Harris.
In addition, global co-head of the firm’s antitrust department Nicole Kar, London head of antitrust Annie Herdman and Henrik Morch handled the antitrust aspects of the deal, with Kar and Herdman based in London and Brussels, and Morch based solely in Brussels.
European sponsor finance and alternative credit co-head David Carmona and capital markets partner Matt Friedman advised on finance, while global tax co-head and head of European tax Tim Lowe and London tax partner Cian O’Connor handled tax.
Clifford Chance, which has advised easyJet on Castlelake’s offers, continues its representation of the airline, with a team led by London M&A partners Melissa Fogarty and James Bole.
Slaughter and May and Milbank have been acting for Castlelake.
