EasyJet agrees to £5.7bn takeover by US firm

No-frills airline EasyJet has agreed to be taken over in a £5.7bn deal by US firm Apollo after a rival bidder dropped out.The Takeover was agreed after US investment firm Castlelake, which had made a series of offers for the carrier, said it was withdrawing from the bid battle.EasyJet is one of Europe's largest airlines. It employs more than 19,000 people, and flies around 1,200 routes across 35 European countries.It was founded by Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou in 1995 to offer cheap air fares to Europe from the UK.Its first flights took off in November 1995 flying from Luton to Glasgow and Edinburgh, with its first international flights the following year.Sir Stelios and his family still own around 15% of the business, and he said he supported Apollo's plans for the airline "to create more growth"."My family and I intend to remain invested as long-term major shareholders of EasyJet for the next chapter in the company's journey," he said in a statement.The future ownership of EasyJet has been uncertain since it emerged in late May that Castlelake was considering a bid for the airline.