After founding the Zimex Aviation Group 30 years ago, the company's president Hannes Ziegler has decided to sell Zimex Aviation Holding to Lions Air Limited. The sale and purchase agreement was signed on July 29, 1999, and will come into force, Zimex expects, before the end of September of this year. During this two month gap, Zimex will be obtaining the appro-priate government approvals for the transfer of the shares to Lions Air.\rEuropean Business Air News spoke to Zimex ceo, Dr Reto Joos, about the sale of one Zurich-based company to another. Joos told EBAN that, in selling Zimex to Lions Air, Ziegler has made every effort to carefully plan for the company's future. He said: "Hannes Ziegler did not have any succession in his family and so was looking for a way to guarantee his succession. With this attitude in mind, he was then confronted by an interested party and more importantly, an offer which showed him that this would be the right thing to guarantee the future development of the company."\rAsked why there was no one closer to home, no one at Zimex who could have filled Ziegler's boots, Joos said: "There was nobody within the company who would have had the intention or the money to continue in the same manner." So why Lions? Joos told EBAN: "It is simply that Lions made contact with him [Ziegler] at the beginning of this year." It appears that, prior to this approach, Ziegler had already made it perfectly clear to employees and officials alike that he would not just be pursuing offers from within the group. Indeed, it was known in the market and particularly in the local environment that there was nobody from his own family to continue the Ziegler legacy and that outside offers would be considered. For those bracing themselves for the loss of the Zimex name, there is no need to fret. Joos explained: "The whole legal structure, including the name and the logo, will remain the same. It is just that it will be owned by Lions Air and partners of Lions Air."\rAs concerns the company's next movements, Zimex and Joos are letting few secrets out of the bag. Zimex's ceo told EBAN: "It has been agreed that everything concerning the future will be communicated after the closing of the deal. What has been said to the people here is that a complementary business has been found and it is not foreseen that there will be any drastic changes." While the parties involved await the tying-up of all loose ends, Zimex has, as of August 1, named a new management team under the leadership of Reto Joos, Tjitske Strikwerda and Jürg Fleischmann. Their task, says Ziegler, is "to prepare the base for an aggressive expansion concept, whilst continuing to focus on total customer satisfaction".