India’s Ashok Minda Group (Noida; www.minda.co.in) apparently is now the only remaining contender to take over insolvent German automotive supplier Schenk Plastic Solutions (Esslingen / Germany; www.schenk-ps.com) – see Plasteurope.com of 05.06.2008. Insolvency administrator Manfred Dobler of the law firm Hägele & Dobler (Stuttgart / Germany; www.haegele-dobler.de) said the Schenk creditors’ committee hopes to seal an agreement by the end of June and close the deal at the end of August

With 4,000 employees and annual sales of around EUR 345m, Ashok Minda has production facilities for automotive security systems, driver information systems and injected moulded interiors in India, Indonesia and Germany. In 2007 it acquired the eastern German injection moulder Kunststofftechnik Sachsen (Pirna; www.ktsn.de). The Indian group plans to use Schenk, which has a similar portfolio to that of the Pirna company, as a platform for expanding its European activities.