After two years in administration, there appears to be good news for the Ravenna PVC plant of Vinyls Italia and proof that Italy’s vinyls activities are not dead – for most recent coverage, see Plasteurope.com of 10.08.2011. Reports indicate that Industrie Generali spa (IGS, Samarate / Italy; www.industriegenerali.it) – via its CO.EM subsidiary – has signed a contract to take over the plant. The transaction reportedly has received the unions’ blessing.

IGS plans to invest EUR 10m in the short term to get the plant up and running again. According to CEO Roberto Castiglioni, production is set to begin within the next 30-40 days. The group initially plans to hire 34 employees, a number that is expected to rise to a total of 50 in the course of the next six months. Italian media reports assert that IGS plans to raise the plant’s existing 140,000 t/y capacity to 200,000 t/y.

The acquisition significantly changes IGS’ business activities. Until now, the company, which has capacity to compound 20,000 t/y of polymer in Vanzaghello, was mostly active in the distribution business. In 2009, IGS distributed some 95,000 t of plastics – including PVC compounds, HDPE, LDPE, PP homopolymers and plasticisers as well as BOPP film. The materials are procured from Arkema, BASF, Carmel Olefins and Hellenic Petroleum, among others.

With its own PVC production, IGS has moved to an entirely different league, becoming self-sufficient with regard to feedstock supply for PVC compounds. “We have no problem compounding these feedstocks and selling them,” Castiglioni is quoted across Italian media.