The Vechta / Germany district court opened insolvency proceedings on the assets of engineering-part injection moulder, Riesselmann & Sohn GmbH & Co (D-49381 Lohne; www.riesselmann.de) on 1 September 2002. On this same date, the Polytec Group (A-4063 Hörsching; www.polytec-group.com) integrated the entire Riesselmann business in the newly-founded Polytec Riesselmann GmbH (www.polytec-riesselmann.com). Riesselmann, which specialises in engine components, interior trim, electronic housings and functional parts, has some 500 employees and a sales volume of EUR 70m. Almost 90 injection moulding machines are in operation at the Lohne site. Added to these are a downstream painting facility and component assembly workplaces.

The Polytec Group, which was founded in 1986, now has three injection moulding companies in Germany supplying the automotive industry, with a total of 840 employees and a sales volume of EUR 120m. Alongside Riesselmann and Polytec Rentrop (D-29693 Hodenhagen; www.polytec-rentrop.com), which was acquired in the second half of the Nineties, the group also includes Polytec Thermoplast, formerly Thermoplast + Apparatebau GmbH (D-65510 Idstein; www.polytec-thermoplast.com), which was only purchased from Dana/Victor Reinz this spring and achieves sales of EUR 36m with some 250 employees.

The Polytec Group, which is backed by investment company CapVis Equity Partners (CH-8098 Zurich; www.capvis.com), has thus pursued a major expansion drive over a very short period of time. While the group posted overall sales of some EUR 89m in 2000 still, its latest acquisitions will take it above the EUR 250m mark, with automotive supplier business now accounting for more than 75% of sales. Polytec employs a total of 2000 employees at 14 locations worldwide.