TAKEOVER TALKS:AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE firm SR Technics says it has received over 20 approaches from parties interested in taking over different elements of its operation at Dublin airport.
SR Technics announced last month that it was to close its facility in Dublin with the loss of 1,100 jobs. However, a spokesman for the company told The Irish Times yesterday it was examining more than 20 expressions of interest in different parts of its operation. If these were found to be financially reasonable then they would be pursued, he said.
SR Technics is scheduled to hold further consultations with trade unions at the plant today.
A fortnight ago, Minister for Enterprise Mary Coughlan said there had been a number of parties who had expressed interest in taking over the facility. She said the parties were interested in purchasing all or part of the business as a going concern.
Ms Coughlan said everything would be done to retain the maximum number of jobs at the company and State agencies would follow up on the expressions of interest.
Trade unions at the company told an Oireachtas committee last month that the operation at Dublin airport was a viable business. They said more than half the capacity of the company’s order book for 2009 was sold before it announced it was to close.
The unions maintained the plant was at least breaking even, with its order book in better shape than it had been 12 months previously. They called on the Government to appoint a manager to assess the viability of the Dublin base and “explore every avenue”.
Addressing the Oireachtas Committee on Transport William Quigley of Unite, who is chairman of the union forum at SR Technics, said some units had already sold more then 80 per cent of their capacity for the next year. He also said a large volume of work was booked for the coming five years.
He said the company made a decision some time ago to close the Dublin facility and insisted it switched profitable business to Zurich while Dublin “was forced to execute loss-making contracts”.
