Boeing and Embraer continue to navigate the complicated and apparently fast evolving legal landscape to formalize a deal they’ve reached for Boeing to buy 80 percent of the Brazilian company’s commercial airplane business. It would appear the most important part of that process is formally applying to the Brazilian government to approve the deal. The government has final say in Embraer’s affairs but it’s expected to support the merger in the next month. Meanwhile, the Brazilian legal system is having a heyday with the proposal.
On Friday, a judge overturned a Thursday decision by another judge that would have derailed the deal. The Thursday injunction was issued on a request from the union that represents employees at Embraer’s base in Sao Jose dos Campos. But the Friday decision came at the behest of the solicitor general’s office and in the end that might be all that matters. Legal wrangling is apparently the norm in business deals in Brazil but the solicitor general argued quashing the merger “would hurt the economy and the previous decision represented government overreach into the free market,” according to Reuters. Assuming the deal clears all the legal hurdles, Boeing will assume control of Embraer’s airliner programs so it can compete head to head with Airbus, which assumed control of Bombardier’s CSeries program in July of 2018.
