Airbus in Talks to Buy Out Bombardier Stake in A220 Program
Bombardier invested more than $6 billion in the A220’s development.
(Bloomberg) --
Airbus SE is in talks to buy out Bombardier Inc.’s stake in the A220 jetliner program, according to people familiar with the matter.
The negotiations between the companies are at an advanced stage, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. The deal could be announced as early as this week, with both companies scheduled to report earnings on Feb. 13.
Bombardier invested more than $6 billion in the A220’s development before ultimately ceding control of the program to Airbus in 2018 as it struggled to sell the single-aisle plane. Bombardier is obligated to pay as much as $350 million through 2021 to fund cash shortfalls for the jet program, according to the terms of their partnership agreement.
A spokesman for Airbus declined to comment. Bombardier couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
Discussions were reported by the Wall Street Journal and caused Bombardier’s shares to jump as much as 4.5% Friday, reversing earlier losses.
--With assistance from Charlotte Ryan.
To contact the reporters on this story: Layan Odeh in Dubai at lodeh3@bloomberg.net;Siddharth Philip in London at sphilip3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Palazzo at apalazzo@bloomberg.net, Christopher Elser, Andrew Davis
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