(Reuters) - Airbus expects to finalise an agreement to buy part of the assets of Spirit AeroSystems (NYSE: SPR ) by the end of the April and close the deal by mid-year, "ideally by June 30", Chief Financial Officer Thomas Toepfer told shareholders.

Airbus has been negotiating for around a year to take over work carried out by at least four plants as part of a rare carve-up of the struggling aerostructures company with rival U.S. planemaker Boeing (NYSE: BA ).