Things are now moving rapidly at the German technical components company, Devalit van Deest GmbH & Co KG (HQ: PO Box 220302, D-42373 Wuppertal), at present undergoing bankcruptcy proceedings. Help has come from an extremely unexpected quarter (according to insiders). An announcement by the official receiver, Dr Liesegang, Wuppertal, describes how he and Günther Tröster have developed a concept for the takeover of Devalit businesses in Wuppertal, Ellerau and Sömmerda. This plan foresees the takeover by Tröster of a total of 600 workers at the three plants, involved in the manufacture of plastic parts.

Tröster, also owner of Tröster PUR-Technologie (Tannenweg 6, D-96149 Breitengüßbach), has built up a substantial plastics manufacturing group during the past few years by acquisitions at home and abroad, and defines his objective as system supplier for the European automobile industry. He acquired a 70% stake in technical parts manufacturer Faberplast GmbH (Dettenheimerstr 7, D-91781 Weißenburg) on January 1, 1994. In an interview with PIE, Tröster confirmed his statement of intent to take over the three Devalit production sites either by October 1, 1994 or January 1, 1995. However this depends on satisfactory completion of the delayed personnel and cost reduction programme by the official receiver during the next few months. Tröster states: "I can keep a Devalit team of about 600 workers busy" – this still requires redundancies of more than half of the present workforce. The official receiver is of the opinion that Devalit should be completely liquidated should it prove impossible to reduce the number of workers as necessary. Liesegang has appealed to the complete workforce, and especially to the works council members and the trade unions involved, to act responsibly and jointly in order to reduce work force numbers and save the company.