(Reuters) – Boeing (NYSE:) is closing in on a plan to raise around $15 billion with common shares and a mandatory convertible bond as the jet maker bolsters finances worsened by a crippling strike, four sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The company on Tuesday said in regulatory filings that it could raise as much as $25 billion in stock and debt with its investment-grade credit rating at risk. One of the sources cautioned that a $15 billion sale may not be enough for Boeing to fix its ongoing crises.
Boeing on Tuesday also announced a $10 billion credit agreement with major lenders – Bank of America, Citibank, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan – as it tries to work out of a production and regulatory crisis.
Boeing was not immediately available for comment.
Four investor and banking sources said representatives from those lenders were inquiring about appetite for a combined offering of new shares and a mandatory convertible bond – a hybrid bond that could convert into equity on or before a predetermined date.
Roughly $10 billion in new shares are being contemplated to be sold by the company along with nearly $5 billion in mandatory convertible bonds, the sources said.
One of the four sources said the deal was scheduled to be priced shortly after Boeing’s Oct. 23 third-quarter earnings report. But another investor source said the company was trying to avoid a raise during the middle of the month-old strike which analysts estimate is costing tens of millions of dollars per day.
