FTSE 250 movers: Ryanair up; Close Bros down

(Sharecast News) - FTSE 250 (MCX) 23,477.15 -0.26% Budget airline easyJet on Monday said it planned to accept a £5.5bn takeover offer from US private equity firm Castlelake.

The carrier said it had reached an agreement in principle after Castlelake tabled a fifth offer at £6.90 a share after weeks of rejections.

There was no comment on the future of easyJet's 19,000 employees across its airline and holidays divisions.

EasyJet was founded in 1995 by Stelios Haji-Ioannou flying from London Luton Airport to Glasgow and Edinburgh in Scotland, taking on established carriers with its low fare no-frills model.

Haji‑Ioannou left the board in 2010 but remains the biggest investor with a roughly 15% stake along with his family

The company in March it warned of higher fares and fuel shortages due to the US-Israeli war on Iran and Lebanon.

Castlelake tabled its first £5.60-a-share offer on June 12 which was rejected before the fifth bid was accepted on Sunday.

High-performance computing firm Raspberry Pi advanced after saying it has tapped Tim Powell to take over as chief financial officer, succeeding Richard Boult with effect from 16 October. The company said Powell brings over 20 years' leadership experience across public companies.

Close Brothers was knocked lower by a downgrade to 'sector perform' from 'outperform' at RBC Capital Markets, which slashed its price target to 470p from 625p.

Ocado fell as it said that founder and chief executive Tim Steiner will step down in 2028. Following the appointment of a successor, Steiner will transition into a founder role.

FTSE 250 - Risers

easyJet (EZJ) 613.60p 10.48% Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) 180.80p 4.51% Raspberry PI Holdings (RPI) 880.00p 3.83% IntegraFin Holding (IHP) 387.00p 3.20% Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) 123.90p 3.16% WPP (WPP) 257.30p 3.03% GCP Infrastructure Investments Ltd (GCP) 82.00p 2.50% Seraphim Space Investment Trust (SSIT) 198.40p 2.48% Diversified Energy Company (DI) (DEC) 1,054.00p 2.33% Man Group (EMG) 306.20p 2.27%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Close Brothers Group (CBG) 407.60p -7.69% Discoverie Group (DSCV) 656.00p -3.95% Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 2,976.00p -3.68% Hansa Investment Company Limited (DI) (HAN) 324.00p -3.57% FirstGroup (FGP) 178.60p -3.41% Drax Group (DRX) 749.00p -3.17% IP Group (IPO) 64.40p -3.01% Ceres Power Holdings (CWR) 512.00p -2.85% Harworth Group (HWG) 123.20p -2.84% Morgan Advanced Materials (MGAM) 206.50p -2.83%