Major acquisitions such as Inoutic – the German company formerly known as Thyssen Polymers – investment in new products and expansion of capacity, especially in central and eastern Europe, evidently have pushed the debt burden at Belgian plastics converter Deceuninck (Hooglede-Gits / Belgium; www.deceuninck.com) to the limit. The PVC profiles specialist now plans to a rights issue to strengthen its capital structure and allow it to meet “unprecedented macroeconomic challenges.” The timing and size of the increase are to be announced “in due course.”

At the same time, CEO Clemens de Meersmann, departing from his previous guidance of a slightly positive result for 2008, has warned that the company could make a loss.

Four major investors currently hold 21.5m shares in Deceuninck (64% of the share capital). Another large chunk is family-owned – 17.5% through the Desco holding and 7% through Defiac. An additional 17.5% is held by Sofina, which acts in concert with Desco, and 21.77% by Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder Advisers LLC. Deceuninck said both Desco and Sofina support the rights issue.

Commenting on the financial situation, Deceuninck said order intake began to slow down at the start of the fourth quarter, and the downward trend continued in November. The order slump has been compounded by the weakness of the Turkish lira against both the euro and the US dollar. Due to its acquisition-driven expansion in recent years, Turkey accounted for 16% of Deceunincks’s total sales of EUR 657m. If the lira does not rebound, especially against the dollar, the Belgian company expects a loss of around EUR 5m for the year, which could prevent it from meeting financial covenants. Talks are being held with creditors to identify a solution.