Seattle Airline, Alaska Air, acquires Virgin America, valued at $4 billion, creating the fifth largest airline in the United States. The two groups announced it. The transaction will be effected at $57 per Virgin America share, thus bringing the valuation to $4 billion including its debt and fleet value.
At the close last Friday, the Virgin stock was trading at around 38,56 dollars, but this morning in the trades preceding the opening of Wall Street, they marked a rise of 40% approaching the offer price. The new group that will be born from the aggregation will allow the creation of the first airline on the West Coast of the United States, with 1.200 daily departures for a total of over 175 passengers.
