Boeing announced on Monday that it will acquire its struggling supplier, Spirit AeroSystems, in a $4.7 billion all-stock deal finalized after months of negotiations. This acquisition is part of Boeing’s efforts to address a major safety and regulatory crisis affecting both companies.
The total transaction value, including Spirit’s net debt, is approximately $8.3 billion, according to Boeing. Under the terms of the deal, each share of Spirit common stock will be exchanged for Boeing common stock at an exchange ratio between 0.18 and 0.25, valuing Spirit’s shares at about $37.25 each.
As part of the agreement, Airbus will take over certain commercial work packages that Spirit currently handles for Airbus once the Boeing-Spirit merger is complete. Additionally, Spirit plans to sell some of its operations, including facilities in Belfast, Northern Ireland (excluding Airbus operations), Prestwick, Scotland, and Subang, Malaysia.
The transaction is expected to be finalized by mid-2025.
This acquisition is part of a larger agreement between Boeing and its European competitor, Airbus. The two leading global commercial aircraft manufacturers aim to divide Spirit’s facilities to avoid conflicts of interest since Spirit supplies parts to both companies.
Meanwhile, Boeing has resumed delivering wide-body jets to China after a recent pause due to a regulatory review by Chinese authorities. This review also caused a delay in new narrow-body jet deliveries from the U.S. aircraft manufacturer, as reported by flight tracking data and confirmed by two sources.
Since 2019, Boeing's new deliveries to China have been inconsistent. This started after two deadly crashes involving MAX 8 jets and has been further complicated by growing tensions between Washington and Beijing over technology and national security issues.
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