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Boeing is buying back Spirit AeroSystems, a manufacturer of parts for its 737 and 787 planes, in a $4.7 billion all-stock deal, the companies said early Monday morning.
The deal follows months of negotiations between the two aerospace companies and is intended to help address Boeing's ongoing safety crisis, Reuters reported.
"By reintegrating Spirit, we can fully align our commercial production systems, including our Safety and Quality Management Systems, and our workforce to the same priorities, incentives and outcomes – centered on safety and quality," Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun said in the release.
Boeing's stock has tumbled more than 27% this year following a series of manufacturing issues that have rippled through the aviation industry. In January, a door plug on a new 737 MAX 9 jet blew out mid-flight on an Alaska Airlines plane, prompting intense scrutiny of Boeing's manufacturing process.
Subsequent safety reviews of United Airlines and Alaska Airline's fleets of Boeing 737 Max 9 planes found "many" loose bolts, Business Insider previously reported.
United, in a January statement to BI, said the loose bolts were related to the door plug — which was manufactured by Spirit Aero.
Spirit Aero was a Boeing subsidiary before it was spun off in 2005. The acquisition deal brings Spirit Aero back into Boeing's fold, and is meant to improve aircraft production, Reuters reported.
The deal spins off Spirit Aero's Europe-focused operations to Airbus, a Boeing competitor. Boeing would take over the rest of the company.
Representatives for Boeing, Spirit AeroSystems, and Airbus did not immediately respond to requests for comment from BI sent outside standard business hours.
Amid the negotiations with Spirit Aero, Boeing is also in talks with the Justice Department about a plea deal to resolve the DOJ's plans to charge Boeing with fraud. The looming charges come after officials found Boeing violated a deferred prosecution agreement related to two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019.
