Boeing Corp.’s takeover of Spirit AeroSystems has been pending for more than a year, and the pending $4.7 billion all-stock deal has now been taken up by the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority, seeking to determine the antitrust implications of the combination. Two particular Spirit Aero operations – one in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and another in Prestwick, Scotland – are among those to be sold to Boeing rival Airbus S.A.
Spirit AeroSystems manufactures airframe structures for multiple OEMs, but it is a critical supplier to Boeing’s 737 MAX and 787 Dreamliner programs. Normalizing and optimizing that connection is considered critical to Boeing’s long-term success.
However, a late development in the finalization of the deal is that Boeing may be on track now to take over parts of the Belfast plant unless a more interested buyer can be found.
Sorting out the Spirit Aero assets had been a complicating detail since the combination was announced in July 2024.
Airbus finalized its purchase of specifical Spirit Aero assets in late April. This includes plants in Kinston, N.C., and Wichita, Kan., an in France and Morocco, as well as the Belfast operation noted above that manufactures Airbus A220 wings.
It is the other Belfast operations there that Boeing may be in line to take over now. The plant also produces aerostructures components for Bombardier business jets, as well as for several military aircraft programs. Bombardier was the previous owner of the plant, having sold it to Spirit AeroSystems in 2019.
A Bombardier spokesman told Reuters the company is "open to all solutions regarding the site's future".
According to a June 30 statement by the U.K. oversight panel, “The CMA is considering whether it is or may be the case that this transaction, if carried into effect, will result in the creation of a relevant merger situation under the merger provisions of the Enterprise Act 2002 and, if so, whether the creation of that situation may be expected to result in a substantial lessening of competition within any market or markets in the United Kingdom for goods or services.”
CMA set an August 28 date for its decision to close the inquiry or proceed with a wider investigation of the pending merger.
