Boeing on lookout for deals ‘big or small’

BOEING IS looking for future deals “small or big” now that it has absorbed parts distributor KLX, an executive said, as the world’s largest planemaker tries to beat out rival Airbus in the highly profitable market for aircraft parts and services.

Boeing last month closed the KLX acquisition for $4.25bn (£3.26bn), including about $1bn of net debt, its largest deal since merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997.

Now it expects further purchases to help it triple the revenue of its year-old Global Services division to $50bn in a decade, the unit’s chief executive Stan Deal said.

“When we come up with selective, complementary investments, whether it’s small or big, we will make it,” Deal said.

“Our first thrust is organic,” he added. “We have plenty of things we can invest in organically to create growth.”

Both Boeing and rival Airbus are muscling deeper into the higher-margin market for repairs, maintenance and analytics services in a push that has rattled the aerospace supply chain.

Deal declined to specify a price range or geography for its next targets, but said any bolt-on acquisitions would expand beyond the “technology or breadth inside of Boeing”.

This could mean deals in areas such as avionics services, which is in increasing demand.