Good afternoon. Welcome back to The Europe Pitch, PitchBook’s newsletter for the EMEA region.

✈️ Apollo Global Management just gatecrashed the takeover of easyJet with an unsolicited £5.7 billion bid. That trumps Castlelake‘s £5.5 billion offer, but the UK-based airline needs European control to continue flying EU routes, and Apollo hasn’t yet said how it will square that. More below