It looks as though the last remaining PET plant belonging to La Seda (Barcelona / Spain; www.laseda.es), at the north Italian site of San Giorgio di Nogaro will go to Selenis (Portalegre / Portugal; www.selenis.com). La Seda is currently in the process of liquidation. According to Italian media reports, Selenis is the only one of the four original bidders left with a notarised offer. The Portuguese are willing to pay EUR 1m and take on 30 of the 107 employees. The facility, with an annual capacity of some 200,000 t, has apparently been idle since November 2013.

The transaction is, however, far from being signed and sealed. To begin with, the insolvency court in Barcelona first has to agree to the deal. Secondly, the excluded bidder Ottana Polymers (Ottana / Italy) is, according to regional reports, considering an appeal. The joint venture of the world PET market leader, Indorama Ventures (IVL, Bangkok / Thailand; www.indorama.net), apparently submitted its bid too late, which means that the notary turned it down for formal reasons. A representative of the Italian company is quoted as saying that intensive discussions are currently being held with the lawyers about the chances of success of an appeal.

Indorama recently acquired La Seda’s Turkish PET facility – see Plasteurope.com of 19.02.2014. But this is certainly not the first time that Selenis has been linked to La Seda either. The company belongs to the Imatosgil Investimentos group of Portuguese entrepreneur Matos Gil, once a major shareholder of La Seda. In 2011, Selenis had already bought back the smaller PET facility in Portalegre from La Seda – see Plasteurope.com of 08.04.2011.