Boeing torpedoes BAE bid hopes

AMERICAN aerospace giant Boeing has ruled out a bid for BAE Systems, dashing long-held City hopes.

New chief executive Harry Stonecipher said Boeing is most interested in expanding its range of aviation products and has little interest in a firm whose product lines run from jets to submarines.

BAE is 'vertically integrated to the point where it's kind of contrary to what we would like to do,' he is reported as saying.

'I don't want to be in the torpedo business and I don't want to be in the shipbuilding business.'

Analysts believe Stonecipher may have also been spooked by BAE's cost overruns on domestic defence projects.

Stonecipher replaced former chief Phil Condit, who resigned last year after an ethics probe. Condit had hinted that BAE might be a good acquisition for Boeing.

Speculation of a Boeing takeover helped spark the 55% rise in BAE shares over the past year.