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Boeing Co. BA, +3.38% has tapped investment banks for help securing a financial lifeline after the coronavirus grounded most of the world’s flights and deepened the aerospace giant’s troubles.
Lazard LAZ, +0.82% and Evercore Inc. EVR, +0.35% will help Boeing analyze government aid and potential funding from the private market, people familiar with the matter said. The U.S. Treasury Department has earmarked up to $17 billion of federal aid for Boeing and its suppliers as part of a larger rescue of the airline industry in the roughly $2 trillion stimulus package.
Analysts estimate Boeing may need to raise as much as an additional $20 billion this year to cover debt service, customer and supplier support and costs to complete joint ventures with Embraer SA .
Government aid is likely to come with strings attached, possibly limiting executive pay and stock buybacks and dividends. Some of the aid in the stimulus package also requires companies to maintain at least 90% of their current workforce until Sept. 30.
Boeing Chief Executive David Calhoun has balked at the idea of giving the U.S. government an equity stake as part of a deal, a possibility the stimulus bill envisions.
