French injection moulding manufacturer Billion (Bellignat / France; www.billion.eu) and an unidentified Italian businessman are the two finalists in the race to acquire insolvent injection moulding machinery producer Sandretto (Collegno; www.sandretto.it), which has been under protection from creditors since 2006 – see Plasteurope.com of 31.07.2007 and 01.03.2006.

The deadline for submitting bids was 28 September 2007, and the Italian ministry for economic development is now studying the offers in detail. It will look not only at financial aspects, but also at the bidder’s plans for continuing production and guaranteeing jobs. The latter will be of considerable importance to Italy’s traditionally strong unions. A date for a decision has not yet been revealed. According to the Italian press, an auction is also an option if both offers appear to be of equal merit.

Billion owner and managing director Korbinian Kiesl, who acquired the machinery producer from mpm in early 2006 – see Plasteurope.com of 03.03.2006 – is not prepared to comment on possible plans for Sandretto at present, a spokeswoman told PIE. In 2006, Billion had sales of EUR 33m, half of this outside its home market, and is believed to be operating profitably. Sandretto last reported sales of EUR 36m, but was carrying forward debts of around EUR 48m.