Boeing agrees to buy fuselage maker Spirit AeroSystems in $4.7 billion deal

Boeing said Monday that it will buy back its struggling fuselage maker Spirit AeroSystems in an all-stock deal that the planemaker has said will improve safety and quality control.

It said it agreed to pay $37.25 a share in Boeing stock for Spirit, giving the aerospace company an equity value of $4.7 billion. Including Spirit's debt the deal has a transaction value of $8.3 billion Boeing said. Spirit's shares closed Friday at $32.87 a share, giving it a market capitalization of about $3.8 billion.

Boeing in March disclosed that it was in talks to acquire the Wichita, Kansas-based company, weeks after a fuselage panel blew out midair from a nearly new Boeing 737 Max 9 on an Alaska Airlines flight, sparking a fresh crisis for Boeing. Spirit makes the fuselages for the 737 and other parts, including sections of Boeing's 787 Dreamliners.

In 2005, Boeing spun off operations in Kansas and Oklahoma that became the present-day Spirit AeroSystems. Boeing accounted for about 70% of Spirit's revenue last year, while roughly a quarter came from making parts for Boeing's main rival, Airbus, according to a securities filing.

CEO Dave Calhoun, who has said he will step down at the end of the year, on Monday said bringing Spirit in-house will "fully align" the companies' production systems and workforces.

"Among the many actions we're taking as a company, this is one of the most significant in demonstrating our unwavering commitment to strengthen quality and make certain that Boeing is the company the world needs it to be," Dave Calhoun said in a message to employees.

He said he expects the deal to close mid-2025, subject to approval by regulators, Spirit shareholders and the sale of Spirit's operators dedicated to Airbus planes.

Spirit's CEO