David Lawrence, President and CEO of machinery manufacturer Milacron (Cincinnati, Ohio / USA; www.milacron.com), which filed for Chapter 11 protection in the US on 10 March 2009, was optimistic when he recently told Plasteurope.com that the two debtor-in-possession financers of the company were “willing and able” to take it over and that there had also been a large number of declarations of interest “of both a strategic and a financial nature” to acquire the company. Milacron is now waiting to see whether the interested parties will make concrete bids by 24 June. If they do not, the two present investors will take over the company with a decision being made in August 2009 at the latest. Lawrence added that whichever route is taken it is clear that Milacron will emerge from the process a stronger company, based on a far more stable financial footing.

Despite the dire situation in which the company finds itself, Lawrence is convinced that Milacron is in a sound operational position. In recent years, he said, it had always responded appropriately to challenges and had adjusted its operational structures to the needs of the market, a route that would continue to be taken with no special restructuring plans for the operation of the business.

Milacron is suffering badly from the heavy slump in US car production, which led the company to file for Chapter 11 protection. But Lawrence’s optimism is illustrated by the fact that Milacron will attend the NPE (www.npe.org) at the end of June in Chicago to showcase new, energy-efficient products for promising segments such as medical technology and alternative energies, areas that are strongly encouraged in the US. The enormous support from customers, employees and suppliers makes him confident about their market acceptance, he added.

Lawrence said that he expects the summer to continue weak, but forecasts that demand will start to pick up in the autumn. In regional terms, in addition to North America, he said Europe has also been affected badly since the end of 2008, both in the west and in the east. Although Asia is still growing, the rate of growth is much lower than it was before the economic crisis, and China is particularly weak. Lawrence pinpointed India as one of few positives, where the company is currently still growing. In structural terms, injection moulding machinery production has been particularly hard hit, with tool manufacture and blow moulding machines more robust.

Lawrence also explained that Milacron still has to comply with many financial requirements of US insolvency law, including the submission of a monthly report. However, this only applies to the North American activities operating under Chapter 11 – see Plasteurope.com of 29.05.2009. This has resulted in some confusion over the company’s performance as there are no published monthly results for the previous year to be used in comparison.