FLS Industries, which has offered to buy the Aer Lingus aircraft maintenance subsidiary TEAM may be on the brink of pulling out of the deal. The company is understood to be considering buying a different business in the US.

FLS executives will meet the Minister for Public Enterprise Mrs O'Rourke today to appraise her of the situation. It is believed FLS will stress that the deadline for acceptance of the Aer Lingus offer remains the end of this month.

A majority of the TEAM employees rejected the offer of £54.5 million to buy out the letters of guarantee last month. FLS then said it was suspending due diligence of TEAM, but stressed it was still interested in buying TEAM.

Mrs O'Rourke will meet FLS chairman Mr Stephen Harpoth today. It is expected that although FLS won't say it is walking away from the deal now, Mr Harpoth will signal the company's interest in a US aircraft maintenance facility.

This facility, based in North Carolina, is understood to be about the same size as the FLS subsidiary, with a turnover of around £100 million.

Called the Triad International Maintenance Corporation (Timco), it provides aircraft maintenance services for domestic and international customers in the US. It specialises in the maintenance of Boeing, Douglas and Airbus aircraft.

It is owned by the Primark Corporation who deal in financial services information. Timco has been "placed in discontinued operations" for accounting purposes according to Primark, who have said Timco does not fit with their core business.

Last month Mr Harpoth stressed that the company would not wait around forever and that FLS was always looking at other possibilities. However, he stressed then that the company was still very keen to buy TEAM, which has an excellent reputation in the aviation industry.

An FLS spokesman would only say yesterday that the deadline for acceptance of the deal is coming up very quickly "and there doesn't seem to have been any real progress made." As part of the deal Aer Lingus would leave its aircraft maintenance work with TEAM for 10 years. Within five years this work would be worth up to £40 million per year.

Aer Lingus has been meeting TEAM employees in groups and individually in an effort to persuade to accept the offer which represents around £35,000 per person. However, as the deadline approaches sources on all sides have become increasingly pessimistic about the deal believing that employees will not accept the offer. The letters were sent out again to 930 employees last week.

Aer Lingus has warned that TEAM cannot operate as a standalone entity. Last week it dismissed union suggestions that it retain a majority stake in TEAM.