Boeing is in talks with banks to secure a loan of $10 billion or more, according to people familiar with the matter, as the company faces rising costs stemming from two fatal 737 Max crashes.
The company has secured at least $6 billion from banks so far, the people said, and is talking to other lenders for more contributions. The total amount could rise if there is additional demand from banks, one person familiar with the matter said.
Liquidity isn’t an immediate concern, analysts have said, but the new debt shows Boeing is shoring up its finances amid the cash-sapping fallout of the two crashes — one in Indonesia in October 2018 and another in Ethiopia in March last year — that killed all 346 people aboard the two flights.
The amount Boeing is seeking to borrow is more than what some analysts were expecting. For example, Jefferies earlier this month forecast Boeing would issue $5 billion in debt this quarter.
But the jets’ return has faced potential new delays that are threatening to drive up Boeing’s costs, including a new software issue disclosed by the company last week.
Boeing is suspending production of the troubled planes this month as the grounding stretches into its 11th month, a move that has rippled through the supply chain and already cost thousands of jobs.
The company also reversed its stance and will now recommend pilots undergo simulator training, a time-consuming and costly process, before the jets can fly again.
The company posted negative orders for aircraft last year, its weakest sales figures in decades, and handed the title of the world’s biggest aircraft manufacturer over to its European rival Airbus.
Boeing has developed a software fix for the planes after a flight-control system was implicated in the crashes but regulators have not yet signed of on that or completed other checks that would allow them to certify the planes as safe to resume operations.
Boeing declined to comment on the debt raise.
Moody’s Investors Service last week said it was putting Boeing’s credit rating, which is investment grade, on review due to the Max issues.
“Recent developments suggest a more costly and protracted recovery for Boeing to restore confidence with its various market constituents, and an ensuing period of heightened operational and financial risk, even if certification of the Max comes relatively near-term, as expected,” wrote Jonathan Root, Moody’s lead Boeing analyst.
The loan Boeing is negotiating will be a two-year, delayed-draw loan, meaning Boeing can tap into it later, a move that may not immediately affect its credit rating as another type of loan or a bond would, according to one of the people familiar with the matter.
Banks that have already committed to contribute to the loan include Citigroup, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo and J.P. Morgan, people familiar with the matter said.
Boeing this month will pause production of the planes, which had been its best-selling aircraft. That decision is hurting its supply chain. Spirit AeroSystems, which makes fuselages and other parts for the 737 Max, said earlier this month it would lay off 2,800 workers.
Moody’s downgraded Spirit to junk territory last week, saying it “reflects our expectation that Spirit’s liquidity profile will quickly and materially erode in the absence of mitigating developments that remain largely out of the company’s control.”
General Electric, which makes engines for the planes through a joint venture with France’s Safran, has laid off 70 temporary workers in Quebec, but it could hire them back later.
Suppliers are in a tough position because they want to have skilled workers in place for a resumption in production.
GE, which reports earnings at the end of the month and also makes engines for Airbus planes, can move workers to other plants and programs. The company is also considering reducing worker overtime, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The 737 Max issues have cost airlines more than $1 billion in lost revenue, and Boeing took a $5.6 billion pre-tax charge last July to compensate its Max customers for the grounding.
While the company has reached compensation agreements with airlines including American and Southwest, those agreements apply only to revenue lost in 2019 and analysts expect Boeing will have to pay more without a firm date to get the planes back in the air.
Investors will hear more on the impact of the grounding from American and Southwest when they report earnings later this week and when Boeing reports on Jan. 29.
The new loan comes as Boeing is seeking to close its $4 billion acquisition of a majority stake in Embraer’s commercial plane business. The company has also continued to pay investors dividends during the crisis.
