EasyJet shareholders approve £5.7 billion Apollo takeover

Nov 11 (Reuters) - EasyJet shareholders on Wednesday approved the budget airline's £5.7 billion ($7.61 billion) takeover by Apollo, clearing an important step for one of the biggest private-equity buyouts of a European carrier.

The airline is aiming to complete the deal before the end of the first quarter of next year, when easyJet would leave the London stock market after more than a quarter of a century. 

However, the takeover faces regulatory hurdles in the European Union, where officials are preparing a review of airline ownership rules to prevent foreign investors from gaining effective control of carriers.

EasyJet is headquartered in Britain but relies on EU licences to operate bases and routes across the bloc, meaning a majority of shares should be held by EU-based investors. 

To comply with the rules, the airline suspended the voting rights of some shares held by non-EU investors. It said the level of ownership of shares by EU persons was 35.07% at the time of Wednesday's general meeting.

EasyJet is also facing opposition from unions, with the European Works Council warning that the structure of the deal could weaken the airline's resilience and expose employees to unaddressed risks.

The buyout is the latest in a string of London-listed companies bought by mostly US-based private equity firms in recent years as the FTSE 100 has traded at a discount to its US counterpart.

EasyJet said 97.07% of scheme shares voted were cast in favour, with 83.29% of voting shareholders in support of the deal, clearing the threshold needed to take the budget airline private. Scheme shares are those being acquired under a court-approved scheme of arrangement. 

($1 = 0.7492 pounds)

(Reporting by Yamini Kalia and Raechel Thankam Job in Bengaluru; Editing by Jonathan Ananda and Mrigank Dhaniwala, Kirsten Donovan)