A nearly two-week strike, mainly at the Noeux-Les-Mines facility of automotive supplier Cadence Innovation France (Saint Marcel / France), brought the assembly lines at Renault in Douai and at PSA/Fiat in Sevelnord – both in France – to a standstill. The industrial action at the former Peguform France was prompted by the insolvency petition filed by the bumper fascia specialist in late September 2006. A decision by the chamber of commerce at Evreux / France on the continuation of business at Cadence has been scheduled for 22 December. However, in the meantime, a number of bids apparently have been received for the acquisition of the company´s four production sites.

Talks with Faurecia (Nanterre / France; www.faurecia.com) on the acquisition of Noeux-Les-Mines are said to be nearing conclusion, even if Faurecia recently insisted that it had not officially submitted a bid. The competitor reportedly plans to get by with half the 436 staff at the Cadence site. Germany´s Peguform (Bötzingen; www.peguform.de), once a sister company, is reported to be interested in the Burnhaupt-le-Haut plant. However, Kai Weckner, head of marketing at the company that inherited the Peguform name, declined to comment when contacted by PIE. The future of the Cadence Pouancé facility with 365 employees is unclear. Another former sister company, Peguform Bohemia, now Cadence Innovation ks (Liberec / Czech Republic; www.cadenceinnovation.cz), also may be on the list of prospective site buyers. The Czech firm is said to be interested in the headquarters at Vernon Saint Marcel, where it would retain 200 of the current 340 employees.

Some observers have speculated that US parent, Cadence Innovation (Troy, Michigan / USA; www.cadenceinnovation.com) – formerly Venture Industries – allowed the French subsidiary to slide into insolvency so that the drastic job cuts needed to turn the business around can be made without any financial obligations towards employees. Without the bankruptcy petition, this would have been considerably more difficult, given the strength of the French trade unions. Supporting this theory is the suggestion that these facilities were underperforming even when Peguform was still a united company. What´s more, the sites are no longer listed on the parent group´s website.

In mid-2006, the US Cadence indicated it was considering withdrawing from France "to concentrate activities for international OEMs in the US, eastern Europe and other regions" – see Plasteurope.com Web of 12.06.2006. To remain competitive, the French company would require capital investment that the group is "not necessarily prepared to make," Cadence CEO Jerry L. Mosingo said at the time. Sales of the group, which employs 1361, were around EUR 200m in 2005.