Frontier Airlines buying Spirit in nearly $3 billion deal

DENVER – Frontier Airlines’ parent company is buying Spirit Airlines in a $2.9 billion cash-and-stock deal that will allow the combined airline to be more competitive against its larger rivals.

Spirit shareholders will receive 1.9126 shares of Frontier plus $2.13 in cash for each existing Spirit share they own. This implies a value of $25.83 per Spirit share at Frontier’s closing stock price of $12.39 on Friday.

The deal is valued at $6.6 billion when accounting for the assumption of debt and operating lease liabilities.

Frontier currently provides flights from Fargo to Denver and Orlando, Florida.