Investing.com-- Airbus Group SE (EPA: AIR ) and Spirit AeroSystems (NYSE: SPR ) said on Monday that they had signed a definitive agreement under which Airbus will acquire a slew of Spirit’s commercial aircraft assets in Europe and the United States.
Airbus will take over select Spirit assets in the U.S., France, Morocco, and Northern Ireland which are linked to the former’s plane production. Airbus will also acquire the production of wing components for its A320 and A350 models in Scotland.
Airbus will receive $439 million from Spirit as compensation, the companies said.
Airbus has also entered a memorandum of agreement with Spirit, under which it will provide Spirit non-bearing interest lines of credit worth $200 million, which will be used by the latter to support Airbus.
Monday’s deal comes after a year of negotiations between Airbus, Spirit, and Boeing (NYSE: BA ) to carve-up the industrial assets of Spirit, which is a crucial part of the supply chain for both planemakers.
“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, for key Airbus work packages,” Airbus said in a statement.
Boeing had last year said it will acquire Spirit for $4.7 billion in stock. Spirit is Boeing’s former aerostructures division, and was spun off in 2005.
But the company had faced mounting challenges in recent years, a bulk of which were tied to quality control issues for Boeing.
Boeing is by far Spirit’s largest customer, accounting for over 80% of its order book.