Automotive supplier Eurostyle (Verrières-le-Buisson / France), which has belonged to private equity investor Arques Industries (Starnberg / Germany; www.arques.de) for just nine months, has applied for protection from creditors (“redressement judiciaire”) on behalf of all its French subsidiaries. The commercial court in Evry / France approved the application on 20 October 2008. Eurostyle comprises the seven plastics components plants in France, Spain and Brazil acquired from the MöllerGroup (Bielefeld / Germany; www.moellergroup.com) at the end of last year – see Plasteurope.com of 09.11.2007. Four of them are in France.

According to an Arques spokesman, the company decided to take this step in the light of a sudden collapse in figures of its main customers, French car manufacturers PSA and Renault. This, it said, has led to severe declines in both new orders and revenues. “Within the framework of the envisaged creditor protection process, the company will continue to operate as normal and press ahead with its internal restructuring,” the private equity company and turnaround specialist said in a statement.

Eurostyle has until 15 December 2008 to come up with a rescue plan. The French auto supplier employs 500 people at its head office in Verrières-le-Buisson alone. In September of this year, it was revealed that the company planned to cut 106 jobs in France because of the already apparent weakness of the French OEMs.