Three anonymous German investors have emerged as buyers for the former Daimler-Benz Aerospace (DASA) maintenance subsidiary Aircraft Services Lemwerder (ASL), ending plans by Indonesia's Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara (IPTN) to take a 25.1% stake.
Two local investors from Lower Saxony, where ASL is based, and a third from Hamburg, signed a contract on 31 October to acquire the business. DASA revealed plans to axe the plant in 1993, claiming that it was uncompetitive, but the state government stepped in to keep it open. ASL employs 600, and broke even in 1995 on sales of DM74 million ($49 million). The new owners are remaining anonymous while waiting for the results of a European Commission investigation into the regional government's funding of the original rescue. IPTN signed a memorandum of understanding with ASL at the 1995 Paris air show, confirming its intention to invest in the business, but concerns are reported to have surfaced over the level of influence the Indonesian firm wanted in ASL.
The aim would have been to channel Asian contracts into ASL and also to use the plant to maintain IPTN N250s in Europe.
Source: Flight International
