Several among us probably missed Italian blow moulding machinery manufacturer Technipack Engineering Italia (Castel Guelfo; www.technespa.com) – or Techne – at “K 2010”. A few days ahead of the fair, the company had applied for creditor protection, in effect burying its participation in Düsseldorf. In the meantime, negotiations with investors to secure fresh capital seem to have neared an end. Citing company CEO Moreno Minghetti, Italian media speculate that talks could be wrapped up by year’s end. When approached by Plasteurope.com, however, Mingetti did not disclose the names of potential investors. A western packaging company is rumored to be among the potentials.

Since filing for insolvency in mid-October, Techne has ceased producing machines and has not taken new orders for the past six months. Minghetti did emphasise that the global spare parts and service business is still running, adding that as soon as an agreement is reached with the investors, machinery production would resume. After all, he said, the order books are quite full.

Techne suffered the full blow of the global economic crisis at a time of scarce capital. Only in autumn 2009 had the company opened a new line, combining four previously separate sites. Altogether, Techne forked out EUR 14m to erect a new building and to develop its new “Advance” and “Rotax” machine models. When the crisis did hit, revenues dropped from EUR 33.7m (2008) to EUR 19.4m in 2009.