FLS Aerospace will spend several months integrating TEAM into its operations and will then seek other acquisitions, especially in North America, the chief executive of the Danish group has said.
Mr Steffen Harpoth pledged that TEAM would not lose its local identity and said FLS would invest significantly in the aircraft maintenance group. He was speaking after the formal announcement that the deal to buy TEAM from Aer Lingus had been signed.
Mr Harpoth said the deal makes FLS the largest independent aircraft maintenance group in Europe. Its main rivals are Swissair Technique and Lufthansa Technique.
He again declined to disclose the terms of the deal - mooted at around £25 million at one stage - but insisted that it was a good deal for all parties.
He acknowledged the agreement that Aer Lingus will give TEAM all its maintenance work for 10 years was "a significant condition" of the deal. The contract is worth £27 million a year and will rise to £37 million within five years.
Mr Harpoth said this was a very busy time for aircraft maintenance companies and he did not want to make "haphazard" changes in TEAM, while so much work was going on. He said nothing would be done for at least six weeks. "Opportunities exist within the various entities (FLS subsidiaries) and we will look at how we can deliver the product most efficiently," he said.
He said FLS now had a group of aircraft maintenance companies "who will not lose their local identities." TEAM, like FLS Denmark and FLS in Britain, would get the benefits of being part of a group, but would not lose the identity of being a local company.
"That is very important, because you cannot have a group of 1500-1600 people who do not have a common goal. If you are far, far away, it is more difficult to believe in the company."
The deal took just under one year to complete. Mr Harpoth said he had not been surprised by the length of time involved. He said it had helped everybody see what a good investment TEAM was for all sides.
FLS clients include Transaer, EasyJet, the British Airways subsidiary Go and Ryanair. Asked if he foresaw a downturn in the aviation industry, Mr Harpoth said as long as airlines were flying aircraft, maintenance would need to be carried out.
Mr Harpoth said the company has gain-sharing schemes for its employees in Britain and Denmark and it would examine the possibility of introducing such schemes in TEAM.
Meanwhile, it emerged yesterday that TEAM chief executive Mr Donnacha Hurley has resigned. It is understood that he will be taking up a post in a publicly-quoted company.
