Airbus will buy Spirit AeroSystems’ US and UK assets as it carves up the supplier with Boeing

Europe’s Airbus has finalized an agreement to take some assets from Spirit AeroSystems, both companies said Monday, completing a critical part of a transatlantic carve-up of the struggling supplier with US rival Boeing.

Europe’s Airbus has finalized an agreement to take some assets from Spirit AeroSystems, both companies said Monday, completing a critical part of a transatlantic carve-up of the struggling supplier with US rival Boeing. The US planemaker agreed last year to buy back the aerosructures giant it spun off two decades ago for $4.7 billion in stock, while Airbus moved to take on the supplier’s loss-making Europe-focused activities. Two key plants involved in the transfer are Kinston, in North Carolina, where Spirit (SPR) makes a crucial part of the A350 fuselage, and a plant in Belfast, Northern Ireland, which makes carbon wings for the A220. “Entering into this agreement is a significant milestone as we work towards the closing of the Boeing acquisition, to the benefit of Spirit, its stockholders and other stakeholders,” Spirit Chief Financial Officer Irene Esteves said. Airbus would provide non-interest bearing credit lines worth $200 million to Spirit as a part of the deal, the companies said in separate statements. Airbus, meanwhile, will be compensated by payment of $439 million from Spirit, the planemaker said. Letters sent this month to employees from Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Stephanie Pope and Spirit CEO Pat Shanahan suggest that some work in Belfast and a plant in Prestwick, Scotland, not absorbed by Airbus would go to Boeing (BA).