Boeing is reportedly looking to raise around $10bn via a share sale to rejuvenate the cash reserves. According to a Bloomberg report, citing people familiar with the matter, the share sale would rejuvenate cash reserves deployed as the company contends with the ongoing machinists strike.
The report added that the OEM is working with advisers to explore its options. Additionally, an equity raise will be put off for at least a month, with the assumption that it can resolve the current strike.
Boeing would not comment on the article.
At a Morgan Stanley conference on September 13, 2024, Boeing CFO Brian West said: "We remain committed to manage the balance sheet prudently. We've got two objectives. First of all, we want to prioritise the investment-grade credit rating, and secondly, we're going to allow the factory and the supply chain to stabilise."
The company's pay offer had been rejected a day prior, with the strike beginning that morning of the conference.
"Now, that last objective just got harder based on last night," continued West. "So, we are perfectly comfortable to supplement our liquidity position to support these two objectives, and we're constantly evaluating our capital structure and liquidity levels to ensure that we could satisfy our debt maturities over the next 18 months while keeping confidence in our credit rating as investment-grade."
West said he was "confident" that Boeing's performance will "catch up with the capital structure and it's going to reflect an investment-grade credit profile", adding that that it would take "any necessary actions" to accomplish these goals.
The company has nearly $60bn in debt and a backlog of 5,490 commercial aircraft.