Boeing to sell Jeppesen navigation unit to Thoma Bravo for $10.6 billion

Boeing Co. agreed to sell its Jeppesen navigation unit and related assets to Thoma Bravo for $10.6 billion in cash, handing the planemaker funds it can use to lighten its debt load.

The deal also includes Boeing’s ForeFlight, AerData and OzRunways businesses, according to a statement Tuesday confirming a Bloomberg News report. Under the ownership of Thoma Bravo, Boeing will continue to capture data needed for maintenance, repair and diagnostics services.

Jeppesen, which provides interactive flight plans, is profitable and commands a broad customer base from airlines to amateur pilots. The business, which Boeing acquired in 2000 for $1.5 billion, is one of the non-core assets that the planemaker is seeking to shed to lower its $58 billion debt load and recover from a series of missteps.

Shares of Boeing, which reports results on Wednesday, jumped 2.45% in premarket US trading.

The deal is Boeing Chief Executive Officer Kelly Ortberg’s biggest move yet to shrink the planemaker’s portfolio of other businesses to prioritize its core operations making jetliners and military aircraft. Ortberg has said he’d look to prune rather than undertake dramatic cuts to Boeing’s businesses.

With the other assets, the sale commanded a higher price than originally expected.

ForeFlight, an aviation navigation app, is widely used by amateur pilots. Boeing purchased it in 2019. OzRunways is an app that helps pilots stay on top of voluminous NOTAMs, or Federal Aviation Administration notices to airmen.

Thoma Bravo beat out other private equity firms that were interested in Jeppesen. Bloomberg reported in January that suitors included Advent, Blackstone Inc., Carlyle Group Inc., Veritas Capital and Warburg Pincus.

The unit had also attracted interest from companies including Honeywell International Inc., TransDigm Group Inc., RTX Corp. and GE Aerospace, as well as private equity firms Carlyle Group Inc. and Warburg Pincus, Bloomberg News has reported.