Arlington
Boeing buys back supplier: Boeing is closing in on a $4bn deal to reacquire Spirit AeroSystems, the supplier who built the 737 Max 9 fuselage that lost a panel in mid-air in January, says The Wall Street Journal. Boeing believes buying back Spirit will improve the safety and quality of its manufacturing and that spinning off Spirit in 2005 may have hit quality control.
When Spirit’s fuselages fell behind schedule, unfinished parts were transported to Boeing facilities. An investigation found that the mid-air blowout was caused by forgotten key bolts during one of these transfers, says Melvin Backman in Quartz. As part of the deal, Spirit will separate operations that make parts for Boeing’s rival Airbus, which accounts for about a fifth of Spirit’s revenue.
Meanwhile, the US Department of Justice is considering criminal charges against Boeing for breaching the terms of its deferred prosecution agreement. In 2021, Boeing admitted to misleading regulators and paid $2.5bn after two crashes killed 346 people. However, prosecutors claim Boeing has failed to meet its obligations.
Prosecuting Boeing is a challenge thanks to its “big economic footprint” as a major exporter, says Breakingviews’ Robert Cyran. Commercial aviation is essentially a duopoly between Boeing and Airbus. Debarment from government contracts and fines is ineffective, leaving the possibility of appointing monitors to oversee the company and report back to regulators.
London
Beyond beer: Britvic has rebuffed a £3.1bn offer from Carlsberg, arguing it “significantly undervalues” the British soft-drink maker’s “current and future prospects”, say Madeleine Speed and Ivan Levingston in the Financial Times. The Danish brewer of Tuborg and Kronenbourg made an initial bid of 1,200p per share before upping its all-cash proposal to 1,250p, a 29% premium to Britvic’s recent share price. Carlsberg has until 19 July to make another bid or walk away. The proposed deal is part of Carlsberg’s strategy to go “beyond beer” and expand its cider and soft drinks segments, as well as its bottling business in Britain. Britvic, which makes Tango and Robinsons, also bottles drinks for US giant PepsiCo in the UK. Carlsberg is PepsiCo’s bottler in Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Cambodia and Laos.
Britvic’s refusal appears “illogical” as its shares have never reached the level of Carlsberg’s revised offer, says Aimee Donnellan in Breakingviews. Being scooped up by a larger firm would allow it to expa
