Embraer sharholders OK Boeing deal

Shareholders of Brazil’s Embraer on Tuesday approved a deal to sell 80 percent of the company’s commercial plane division to Boeing Co. The deal will allow Boeing to compete with Airbus in the market for jets with up to 150 seats. The transaction must now be approved by antitrust regulators. Under the terms of the deal finalized in December, Boeing will pay $4.2 billion to control Embraer’s most profitable division, supplying passenger jets to airlines. Under the proposed agreement, Boeing will acquire 80 percent of  "all aspects" of Embraer's commercial aircraft division, including aircraft design, manufacturing, certification, services and sales work related to ERJs, E-Jets and E-Jet E2 family aircraft. It will allow Boeing to better compete with rival Airbus, which last year bought a controlling stake in Bombardier Inc’s CSeries jets, which also have less than 150 seats. Once the transaction receives full regulatory approval, Boeing and Embraer will be joint owners of a yet-to-be-named commercial jet company. Shareholders also approved a joint venture between the two planemakers to market Embraer’s new KC-390 military cargo jet. Embraer will own a 51 percent stake and Boeing 49 percent. Boeing and Embraer announced in December 2018 that they had approved the terms for the joint ventures and the Brazilian government gave its approval in January 2019. Embraer's board of directors ratified its support for the deal and definitive transaction documents were signed. Boeing and Embraer hope to close the deal by the end of 2019. (Sources: Boeing, Reuters, Flightglobal, 02/26/19) Previous. Gulf Coast note: An A220 final assembly line is currently being built in Mobile, Ala., as a result of the Airbus-Bombardier partnership on the former CSeries jetliner, since renamed the A220. Previous