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Boeing has clinched one of the largest stock sales in history, raising $21.1bn as its new executive team races to shore up its balance sheet and avoid its credit rating being downgraded to junk.

The struggling aeroplane maker sold 112.5mn shares of common stock at $143 apiece, raising $16.1bn in equity for the company, which has been haemorrhaging cash and been buffeted by a strike that has ground several operations to a halt. It raised another $5bn through a sale of securities that hold interests in convertible preferred stock.

The deal marks the largest equity fundraising by a US company ever and the fourth-largest globally, excluding deals where no new shares were issued, according to Bloomberg data. The capital raise, completed late on Monday, could swell by a further $3.2bn if banks led by Goldman Sachs exercise certain options tied to the offering, which is expected to happen in the coming days.

The fundraising is Boeing’s latest effort to address a crisis that has been building for five years, where a worldwide grounding of the 737 Max following two fatal crashes, followed by the Covid-19 pandemic, a high-profile quality lapse and finally a strike have burnt cash, increased debt and threatened the company’s investment-grade credit rating.

Boeing said it planned to use proceeds for near-term cash flow needs and debt maturities, calling the demand for its offering a reflection of “the market’s confidence in our turnaround and long-term future”.

Fitch Ratings analyst Dino Kritikos said the equity raise alleviated the risk of a downgrade, though Boeing still needed to resolve its labour stand-off and “regain operational momentum”. Moody’s analyst Jonathan Root called the raise “credit positive” but said the company was still being reviewed for a possible downgrade.

The common stock sale was increased from a planned 90mn-share offering. One person familiar with the process said investors were reassured by robust demand for Boeing jets and the belief that airlines had no desire to see Boeing’s duopoly with Airbus turn into a monopoly for the European plane maker.

The person added that Boeing executives had wanted to remove the balance sheet issues weighing on the company to turn their focus to fixing its operational problems.

“A liquidity crunch doesn’t mean the franchise is over,” said Morningstar analyst Nicolas Owens. “They just need the money. It’s not that they aren’t good for it. They have a half a trillion dollars of orders on the books.”

Boeing shares were trading at $153.95 on Tuesday afternoon, up 2.2 per cent on the day and more than 7 per cent above the offer price, suggesting investors were confident the deal had addressed Boeing’s short-term funding issues.

The company ended September with $10.5bn in cash and marketable securities, a little more than what it needs to operate the business. Chief financial officer Brian West said last week that Boeing would burn cash not only in 2024, but also 2025. Two weeks ago it also agreed a new $10bn credit facility to bolster its liquidity.

Boeing has used $10bn in cash during the first nine months of this year. It started by slowing manufacturing in the first quarter to improve quality, after a door panel blew off a jet mid-flight.

In September, production in Washington stopped completely as 33,000 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 751 walked off the job as they sought to improve pay and benefits. The machinists rejected Boeing’s latest offer last week, dealing a blow to chief executive Kelly Ortberg.

West has said since the summer that the company would prioritise its investment-grade credit rating. The company reported $58bn in debt at the end of the third quarter, and all three credit rating agencies have rated it one notch above junk.