To regulate the succession of the company and promote further expansion, French injection moulder and maker of PET preforms Société Générale des Techniques (SGT, Rezé; www.sgt-pet.com) has for the first time decided to sell shares outside the family of managing director Frédéric Mignot. Investment company Unigrains, domestic bank BNP Paribas, and French state fund Bpifrance are reportedly taking minority stakes, but the distribution of the shares has not been disclosed.

According to unconfirmed media reports, the family currently holds about 20% of the company. It is unclear whether the processor will continue to be run by a member of the family after Mignot’s possible departure.

The incoming funds are to be used to produce PET recyclate at the main domestic plant near Nantes, to set up a collection chain of opaque PET bottles to supply the recycling plants, and to expand the international business, which has been limited to three plants in Algeria for the North African market.

The recyclate aspect includes the expansion of the Société Générale de Recyclage (SGR) unit at the Chalon-sur-Saône site, established in 2019 for the production of food-grade PET recyclate, which currently has a capacity of 12,000 t/y.

EUR 9 mn of the spending, the total of which was not disclosed, is to support recyclate manufacturing at the main plant. According to Bpifrance, capacity for rPET is to be created there by spring 2024.

Related: French PET preforms producer SGT lifts capacity

Mignot says this is primarily a reaction to the upcoming European Union requirements for the increased use of recyclates. With the planned plants, SGT is relying primarily on a new cleaning process for the recyclate, which is to enable its use in food-contact materials.

To supply the recycling lines, the company plans to set up a system for the separate collection of opaque bottles in supermarkets, such as those used in France instead of composite cartons for mostly milk and dairy products. These have only recently been earmarked for recycling in France because of the barrier layer.

SGT produces about 7 bn preforms and additional HDPE bottle closures per year in five plants with a total of 500 employees. The volume of PET processed alone is now estimated at around 210,000 t/y. Customers include producers of mineral water, juices, dairy products, wine, and oil, cleaning agents, and cosmetics. Turnover was recently estimated at a good EUR 400 mn.

The company was already considered a pioneer in 2016 with a monomaterial PET preform for the production of opaque milk bottles. Until then, mainly multilayer variants were used.