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Boeing ( BA ) to buy back its former subsidiary

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Airbus to firm up own deal with Spirit as part of

supplier's

breakup

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Spirit breakup discussions made complicated due to IP and

Belfast plant

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Belfast union calls for plant to have single owner

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Feb 20 (Reuters) - Airbus expects to firm up a

deal to take over some of Spirit AeroSystems European

operations in the next few weeks, the planemaker's CFO said on

Thursday, as part of a transatlantic breakup of the

aerostructures manufacturer.

"We're making good progress. I think it would be realistic to

expect that this will happen in the next weeks," Airbus CFO

Thomas Toepfer told reporters in Toulouse, France, about a deal

signing.

Boeing ( BA ) has said it would buy back its former subsidiary

Spirit Aero, which is a critical supplier to Boeing ( BA ), for $4.7

billion in stock.

Spirit Aero also produces key parts for some Airbus jets,

and Airbus will take some of those activities in a deal expected

to close by mid-2025. Toepfer said closing by July 1 was a

"realistic assumption."

Airbus reached a binding term sheet last year with Spirit

Aero, but a formal agreement, initially expected last year, has

not been concluded yet. Airbus will receive compensation because

it will take on some loss-making operations.

Sources told Reuters that talks have been challenging due to

questions about how to divide intellectual property, along with

the future of a Spirit Aero plant in Northern Ireland.

Airbus is expected to take a part of the Belfast factory

that produces wings for the planemaker's smallest A220 jet.

The Airbus deal could exclude part of the plant that

produces jet parts for Canada's Bombardier, which has

said it is a potential buyer for that operation.

Earlier this week, a union at the Spirit Aero plant in

Belfast called for all operations to go to a single entity.

The Boeing ( BA ) acquisition is important since Kansas-based

Spirit Aero has said it has total financial liquidity of just

$890 million but expects to burn $650 million to $700 million in

free cash during the first half of 2025.

Spirit Aero is critical for Boeing ( BA ) because it produces the

fuselage for the planemaker's 737 MAX jet, its strongest-selling

plane. Boeing ( BA ) CEO Kelly Ortberg on Thursday said Spirit Aero's

production quality has improved since he joined the U.S.

planemaker six months ago.