Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the founder of low-cost carrier easyJet, has had to accept that he cannot take cash out of the company when it attempts to use a £277m (€442.6m) rights issue to buy Go, valued at £374m, from 3i, the venture capital group that owns 43% of Go.

Haji-Ioannou indicated last month that he intended to take money out of his existing business interests to fund new ones. The market reacted poorly to this and, foreseeing a rights issue, put pressure on easyJet shares once it announced its intention to purchase Go. When the acquisition and rights issue was formally announced on Thursday morning, but before the market had fully digested the details, easyJet's share price slipped from 460p to 430p.