Boeing agrees deal to buy Spirit AeroSystems for $4.3B, Reuters reports

Boeing (BA) agreed on Sunday to acquire Spirit AeroSystems (SPR) for more than $4B, ending months of talks over a deal the U.S. planemaker hopes will help ease a spiralling safety crisis, Reuters’ Mike Stone and Allison Lampert report, citing two people familiar with the matter said. The acquisition values Spirit at around $4.7B, according to one of the sources. The deal, which is subject to regulatory approvals, would result in the breakup of Spirit, with some of the Kansas-based supplier’s assets going to French planemaker Airbus (EADSY). Boeing is trying to move past a year of difficulties sparked by a Jan. 5 mid-air blowout of a door plug on a new 737 MAX 9 jet that exposed myriad safety and quality problems, the authors note. Spirit, the manufacturer of the door plug, was spun off from Boeing in 2005 in one of a series of moves that critics say were emblematic of a focus on cost-cutting over quality.