The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition that Boeing on Monday launched a stock offering that could raise up to $22-billion as the plane maker looks to strengthen its finances squeezed by a more-than-month-long strike and preserve its investment-grade credit rating (all figures U.S.). A Reuters dispatch to The Globe says 33,000 of its workers represented by the machinists union walked off their jobs in September, halting production of models including its cash-cow 737 Max aircraft. The company is offering 90 million in shares and $5-billion in mandatory convertible securities. "The offering is certainly favourable for credit quality. We'll factor it into our assessment of the rating in the context of continued negative free cash flow," said Ben Tsocanos, aerospace director at S&P Global Ratings. Boeing has never fallen below the investment-grade rating. One investor said both the offerings were heavily oversubscribed and could end up pricing at a very small discount to the last closing price of $155. If the primary offering is oversubscribed, the company has an option to issue 13.5 million shares more and can increase the mandatory convertible offering by another $750-million, according to a term sheet.