Emden Oliver Freiland wanted to build something himself from an early age. At some point the former advisor could no longer suppress it. “I realized very quickly after moving to Roland Berger that I would rather do something of my own,” explains Freiland. “As early as the third week in my new job, I started thinking about my own company.”
The 45-year-old didn’t found a company, he bought it. “I have teamed up with a co-partner. He came up with the idea that it might be better to buy something that already exists and then expand it further, ”recalls Freiland. The choice fell on the helicopter service Heli Service in Emden.
Today Freiland has 150 employees and is the boss in four business areas: in the supply of offshore wind turbines, transport services for the Arctic research vessel Polarstern, air rescue and the maintenance of helicopters.
Business is going well: Before the start of the pandemic, sales were around 26 million euros, and soon it will be around 34 million euros. Because Heli Service has just landed two long-running contracts, as Freiland explains.
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When he and his partner bought the company in 2016, the situation was different. The helicopter service was once founded in Egelsbach near Frankfurt by an entrepreneur. The expanded into the offshore business in 2008. “The company was about to enter the next growth phase, but it needed more stable structures and processes,” reports Freiland. He and his partner planned them and are still implementing them today. The team is now even in the process of mapping all processes in an IT system. “So we’re building a digital twin.”
The entry of Freiland and his partner was brave: aviation is considered volatile, requires high investments and is heavily regulated. But in the eyes of Michael Santo, CEO of the aviation-focused consultancy H&Z in Munich, the decision was the right one. “This is a very exciting and expanding market, especially due to the offshore wind farms,” says Santo.
Offshore services are considered to have high margins
The supply of the platforms has always been high-margin, explains Santo. In the future, drones would partly take over the supply by air. But their ranges are limited, and they are not suitable for heavy transports such as those of up to ten people in the foreseeable future. The fact that Heli Service has also set up its own maintenance business is exactly the right step. “Doing maintenance yourself is almost a prerequisite. This is the only way I can service my device when it fits best and I don’t have to go to a long, external workshop, ”says Santo.
Heli Service has maintenance licenses for four types of helicopters and is the largest German workshop for the Leonardo Helicopters brand – also for third-party customers. “We want to grow in the maintenance area,” says Freiland: “We are currently in the process of building an intelligent IT system for maintenance in order to predict how long the maintenance will take and what it will cost. With helicopters, both factors are difficult to calculate. “
Freiland and his partner only started the maintenance business two and a half years ago; it now accounts for around a quarter of sales.
Freilands company also provides maintenance for third-party customers and is active in air rescue in the UK.
(Photo: company)
The entrepreneur also sees growth potential in air rescue. “We are active there in Great Britain and want to expand this area.” However, the Emden-based company is not targeting Germany. There is a different system here, the rescue is in the hands of donation-financed and non-profit organizations, Freiland justified the decision.
The entrepreneur also senses additional business in the core offshore market. He is less interested in building new wind farms in the sea. It would take too long for them to stand. Instead, Freiland wants to wrest business from its competitors. “The big wind companies still transport a lot by ship. We are faster with the helicopters. Since working hours are expensive, we end up being cheaper, ”says Freiland. Because the employees can be deployed faster. “And that may come as a surprise, but we also do significantly better than the ship in terms of the CO2 balance – namely by a factor of 4.”
Heli Service expands to Asia
In addition, there are still promising regions for entrepreneurs, even if they are not always easy to use. “We won a large order in Taiwan. We are now setting up our own company there, ”says Freiland, citing an example:“ This is a huge opportunity for us, but at the same time a huge challenge. As a relatively small company, we have to rebuild everything there. ”Freiland is also keeping a close eye on the US market.
The Polarstern division makes the 45-year-old particularly proud, who was born in Gerlingen in Swabia and now lives in Munich and Emden. The research ship of the same name drifts frozen through the Arctic Ocean. Pilots from the Heli Service bring crew and equipment to Polarstern on a regular basis. They also undertake reconnaissance flights for the researchers.
“It is a great privilege for us to be able to work on such an important topic for the customer,” says Freiland. It is an extremely complex business.
Consultant Santo can confirm this: Particularly in the polar area, extraordinary qualifications and a pronounced understanding of security are required.
To this day Freiland has not regretted going into aviation. “We looked at numerous possibilities, thematically it was completely open,” he says. The fact that he previously worked in the energy sector at Siemens had no influence on the fact that he and his partner ultimately decided on a helicopter service in the offshoring market.
“We did the M&A search entirely on our own, without a consultant,” says Freiland. “In the course of time we have dived deeper and deeper into the M&A market and established contacts with tax advisors, for example. That’s how we found Heli Service in Emden. “
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