Boeing plans to raise £27bn amid concerns of future bankruptcy

Embattled US planemaker Boeing has announced plans to raise as much as $35bn (£26.8bn) through a credit agreement and share sale to boost its balance sheet as it battles a string of crises.

The firm is searching for $25bn through a stock and debt offering and also entered into a $10bn credit agreement with a consortium of banks, according to regulatory filings on Tuesday.

“These are two prudent steps to support the company’s access to liquidity,” Boeing said in a statement.

The announcement was accompanied by some of the gloomiest predictions yet surrounding the future of Boeing, which unveiled plans last week to cut 17,000 jobs, roughly 10 per cent of its workforce, amid anticipated full-year losses of $5bn.

While the aircraft manufacturer has long been seen as too big to fail, the boss of Emirates, Sir Tim Clark, told news site Air Current on Monday: “Unless the company is able to raise funds through a rights issue, I see an imminent investment downgrade with Chapter 11 looming on the horizon.” 

Reacting to the raise, analysts at Panmure Liberum said: “We take the vagueness and breadth of the shelf announcement and the need for the temporary financing as implying that the banks are struggling to sell this issue to potential investors or lenders.”

“The lack of any detail makes it impossible to work out the value implication for shareholders,” they added.

Nick Cunningham, analyst at Agency Partners, which works with Panmure, told City A.M. bankruptcy was “very unlikely in the near term,” especially given the funding received from the banks. However, he added the company was in a “vulnerable state to cope with any external shocks, such as an unexpected recession.”

US-based aerospace analyst Richard Aboulafia said he didn’t see bankruptcy as “terrible likely. They’ll likely get access to the debt and equity the need, no matter how bad things look.”

The raise comes as Boeing grapples with ongoing strike action, where some 33,000 machinists in the US have been on strike for over a month, which, according to ratings agency S&P Global, has cost the firm more than $1bn.

Thousands of Boeing employees are set to receive layoff notices in the coming weeks, according to Reuters, with acting US Labour Secretary Julie Su flying to Seattle to ease industrial tensions.

The company has been gripped by crisis since the start of this year following the mid-air blow out of an emergency door panel on an Alaska Airlines’ 737 Max aircraft in January.

The incident ultimately forced out former chief executive Dave Calhoun, alongside a string of top-level executives, and sparked a slew of criminal and regulatory investigations into the firm.

Boeing’s share price has fallen over 40 per cent this year amid a slowdown in 737 Max production, compared with a three per cent fall at rival Airbus.

Panmure said the scale of the issues at Boeing was “so large” that the firm would currently need more than $80bn to catch up with its French rival.

Boeing has $11.5bn in debt, which is maturing in February 2026. It has also committed to issuing around $4.7bn of its stock as part of the acquisition of Spirit Aerosystems.