Selling its assets may be Bombardier's best option

New York

A BREAKUP may be Bombardier Inc's best option for its shares to gain lift-off, say analysts.

Shares of the US$3.5 billion maker of planes and high-speed trains have slumped almost 40 per cent in a year, while rivals such as Boeing Co and Airbus Group NV rallied. Delays and cost overruns on the new CSeries jetliner dragged Bombardier to its first annual loss in almost a decade last year. The company's debt is more than twice its market value.

Chief executive officer Alain Bellemare, who joined Montreal-based Bombardier in February, said that he is lea…