Boeing has taken a major step toward raising as much as $US25 billion, which would give the plane-maker the financial resources to withstand the current strike and work its way through a series of production and certification setbacks.
According to the Australian Financial Review, Boeing filed with regulators on Tuesday to sell any combination of bonds and shares, known as a shelf registration. Boeing is looking to shore up its balance sheet and boost access to cash, as it tries to avoid getting cut to junk status by bond graders and facing much higher borrowing costs.
“This universal shelf registration provides flexibility for the company to seek a variety of capital options as needed to support the company’s balance sheet over a three-year period,” Boeing said in a statement.
Boeing said that it has a separate new credit agreement in place for $US10 billion, giving it “additional short-term access to liquidity as we navigate through a challenging environment”.
The AFR says that “the added firepower will help Boeing improve its bargaining position with striking workers, who have halted production at key Seattle-area facilities for weeks. Union members are seeking higher wages and reinstatement of pensions, and talks broke down last week again as both sides dug in on their demands.”
Boeing is according to the AFR working to stave off potential ratings downgrades from Moody’s Ratings and S&P Global Ratings, which have both said within the last five weeks that they might cut Boeing’s credit grades to junk status, steps that would boost the company’s interest costs in short order and make Boeing a less attractive investment for some funds.
Boeing announced last week that it plans to cut 10 per cent of its workforce, equivalent to about 17,000 people.
Away from the lay media coverage the airline industry is full of praise for Boeing’s aircraft with the 777 and 737 getting the highest accolades for reliability and maintainability.
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