Spirit Aerosystems Stock In Spotlight After Asset Sale Deal With Airbus

Planemaker Airbus agreed to acquire some assets of Spirit Aerosystems, paving the way for the latter’s acquisition by Boeing.

Through the deal, Airbus will acquire the facilities of Kinston, North Carolina, and St. Nazaire, France, which manufacture A350 fuselage sections.

Airbus will also take over the production of wing components for the A320 and A350 aircraft in Prestwick, Scotland.

The European firm would also take over the production of the A220 mid-fuselage in Belfast, Northern Ireland, unless Spirit AeroSystems identifies a suitable buyer for the part of the site where these activities are located.

Boeing had agreed to buy Spirit Aero, a former unit that the planemaker had spun off two decades ago, for $4.7 billion last year to mitigate its supply chain issues.

Following the closing of the deal, expected in the third quarter, Airbus is expected to receive $439 million from Spirit Aero.

Airbus also signed a memorandum of understanding with Spirit to provide non-interest-bearing lines of credit in an aggregate amount of $200 million to a struggling components maker.

“With this operation, Airbus aims to ensure stability of supply for its commercial aircraft programmes through a more sustainable way forward, both operationally and financially,” Airbus said in a statement.

Spirit Aero counts Boeing as its biggest customer and supplies the fuselage for its best-selling 737 Max program from its Wichita facility.

Spirit, in recent times, has struggled to get going financially and has received millions of dollars worth of contributions from both Boeing and Airbus to keep the business afloat.

Retail sentiment on Stocktwits was in the ‘bullish’ (63/100) territory till Friday, while retail chatter was ‘low.’

Spirit shares have gained 1.7% year-to-date (YTD).

Also See: Honeywell Q1 Earnings Loom As Investors Eye Tariff Hit, Spinoff Updates — Retail's Bullish For Now

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