By Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bombardier (TO:BBDb) is set to permanently mothball its Learjet 85 program, book a writedown on its CSeries program, and announce that the government of Quebec will be investing in the narrowbody jet program, according to several sources familiar with the matter.
The embattled Montreal-based company, which has been looking at a wide range of options to help it fund its long-overdue and billions of dollars over-budget CSeries jet program, will form a joint venture with the Quebec government on the CSeries, said the sources, who asked not to be named as they were not authorized to discuss the matter.
To form a joint-venture, Bombardier will write down billions of dollars it has already sunk into the CSeries, said the sources. If a deal is reached, the government would be on the hook to fund half the final development costs on the new jet, which is slated to enter service next year.
A Bombardier spokeswoman declined comment. A spokeswoman for Quebec's economy minister was not immediately available for comment.