Boeing To Take Over Spirit's Northern Ireland Plant As Buyer Talks Fail: Report

Boeing Co. (BA) is set to take over Spirit AeroSystems' operations in Northern Ireland after buyer talks for the site fell through.

According to a report by the Financial Times, if Boeing is unable to secure a suitable third-party buyer for the remainder of the Belfast site, the A220 mid-fuselage program would transfer to Airbus, with the remaining Belfast operations transferring to Boeing.

This would mean Boeing would end up sharing the Belfast plant with Airbus. It comes at a time when talks with Canadian planemaker Bombardier have not yielded any results.

Boeing acknowledged on Tuesday that taking over the remainder of the Belfast plant was a possibility it had accounted for, according to the report.

Boeing shares were up marginally in midday trading. The stock has surged nearly 19% so far this year.

According to data from Stocktwits, retail sentiment on Boeing has remained 'bearish' over the past month.

In June, Boeing’s $4.7 billion deal to buy back Spirit ran into antitrust scrutiny in the U.K. to examine whether the agreement would result in a lessening of competition in the British aviation sector.

Last year, Boeing announced the deal with Spirit, scooping up the world’s largest aerostructures company between itself and Airbus, almost 19 years after spinning it off.

It was then said that Boeing would assume substantially all of its related commercial operations, as well as other commercial, defense, and aftermarket segments of Spirit. At the same time, Airbus would take over facilities that manufactured the A350 fuselage sections.

The deal would also see Airbus take over A220 parts manufacturing facilities across Northern Ireland and Morocco.

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Also See: Boeing Names Former Lockheed Exec Jay Malave As CFO In Leadership Shakeup