The plastics operations of steel group Voestalpine (Linz / Austria; www.voestalpine.com) are to be acquired by Inteva Products (European headquarters: Inteva Products Europe, Wuppertal / Germany; www.intevaproducts.com), a subsidiary of US industrial holding group Renco, which is owned by billionaire Ira Rennert.

The plastics operations are grouped in Voestalpine Polynorm Plastics (Roosendaal / The Netherlands; www.polynorm.com) and the deal, concluded following the submission of 20 offers for the business, includes three sites in The Netherlands and St. Helens / UK. Polynorm Plastics produces car bumpers, components for dashboards and structural and other components. The three facilities generate combined sales of around EUR 90m.

The transaction is contingent on the approval of the cartel authorities. The EU is almost certain to allow the deal as neither Inteva nor Renco currently has a significant presence in Europe.

In autumn 2007, Inteva took over the car interiors and cockpit division of insolvent automotive supplier Delphi Corp (Troy, Michigan / USA; www.delphi.com) for USD 106m including debt. At the time the operations had 4,200 employees and sales of USD 1.3 bn.