MRO
30 | Flight International | 26 January-1 February 2016 flightglobal.com
Michael Gubisch London
Gulf investment fund Mubadala’s acquisition of Swiss MRO specialist SR Technics is
starting to look like an awkward fit as mooted facilities have thus far failed to materialise
A
bu Dhabi investment fund Mubadala’s
bid to become a major global mainte-
nance, repair and overhaul player
began with a gradual acquisition of
Swiss specialist SR Technics from 2006. In 2007,
Mubadala purchased Gulf Aircraft Mainte-
nance, subsequently rebranded as Abu Dhabi
Aircraft Technologies (ADAT). But the absence
of a parent fleet for these service providers posed
a challenge to the ambitious growth plan.
Airlines at that time were outsourcing
maintenance and spinning off technical
departments as standalone businesses. But,
especially in a consolidating MRO environ-
ment, established airline-affiliated service
providers such as Air France Industries KLM
Engineering & Maintenance and Lufthansa
Technik had a clear advantage – their parent
fleets provided a base workload.
Scale effects, combined with leverage in
negotiations with original equipment manu-
facturers to access repair know-how, helped
these competitors win third-party business.
Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways has been a cen-
tral customer for ADAT, and SR Technics con-
tinued to support the fleet of its former parent
Swissair’s successor carrier Swiss, though
some work packages were switched to parent
Lufthansa’s maintenance operation. However,
there is – especially in regard to gaining access
to manufacturers’ repair information – a clear
need for independent third-party MRO pro-
viders to co-operate either with OEMs or with
airlines operating huge fleets, to facilitate sup-
port of new-generation equipment.collaborations
Mubadala opted to collaborate with manufac-
turers such as General Electric, Honeywell,
Rolls-Royce and – in the military arena –
Lockheed Martin and Sikorsky.
The investment fund additionally
launched engine and component financing
venture Sanad in 2010. It has also merged the
senior executive teams of ADAT and SR
Technics for further integration of the two ser-
vice providers and started using the
Mubadala Aerospace MRO Network brand for
its commercial aftermarket activities.
There were also plans to establish MRO
sites in Asia and North America. But apart
from SR Technics opening a componentrepair shop in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and
partnering Indonesian carrier Garuda’s main-
tenance division for the support of certain
equipment, Mubadala has not expanded its
MRO footprint as planned.
The group’s MRO Network brand was qui-
etly dropped and, in 2014, Mubadala sold
ADAT’s airframe and component mainte-
nance activities to Etihad. These have been
rebranded as Etihad Airways Engineering.
ADAT’s engine shop was, meanwhile, set
up as a unit in its own right under a new
name – Turbine Services & Solutions – with a
view to expanding overhaul capabilities for
new-generation engines.
Mubadala considered divesting SR
Technics, too; the fund’s aerospace and defence
systems executive director, Grant Skinner, told
Flight International during the Dubai air show
in November 2015 it had offers on the table
from potential investors. Industry sources indi-
cate Russian investors were interested in ac-
quiring the Zurich-based MRO provider.
In early 2013, Russian flag carrier Aeroflot
disclosed plans to establish two ventures for
airframe and component maintenance in its
homeland, with SR Technics and state corpo-