In the race to take over insolvent PVC producer Kem One (Lyon / France; www.kemone.com), the finish line seems to have been finally reached. A consortium of US private equity investor OpenGate Capital (Los Angeles, California; www.opengatecapital.com) and industrialist Alain Krassny, owner of Austria’s Donau-Chemie (Vienna; www.donau-chemie-group.com) is the only bidder still in the running, the PVC producer announced on 18 December. Earlier, a consortium of French unions under the leadership of Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT; www.cgt.fr) threw in the towel – see Plasteurope.com of 17.12.2013.

The Lyon commercial court handling the insolvency proceedings scheduled the announcement of what it termed a “final decision” on the company’s future for 20 December after it was revealed that OpenGate and Krassny had merged their bids. The lone remaining offer was to be presented to Kem One’s Joint Consultative Committee a day earlier.

Meanwhile, OpenGate's bid for Solvay's compound segment Benvic seems to show the strategic aim of the investment company to build an integrated PVC business – see Plasteurope.com of 20.12.2013.