Insolvent DyStar working to restart two German sites

08 October 2009 16:02  [Source: ICIS news]

TORONTO (ICIS news)--Insolvent textile chemicals producer DyStar is working to restart operations at two sites in Germany, one the company’s insolvency administrators said on Thursday.

The company was forced to halt production at five German sites last week when energy and utility providers cut supplies because of unpaid bills in the wake of DyStar’s insolvency filing.

However, DyStar had resumed deliveries from inventories at sites in Leverkusen and Brunsbuttel, Stephan Laubereau, one of three court-appointed insolvency administrators said.

In a next step, DyStar would move to secure financing to pay energy suppliers, enabling it to resume production at the two sites.

Workers were being paid in the form of “insolvency money” from employment offices, Laubereau added.

Meanwhile, the administrators and DyStar’s management were continuing to look for investors to buy the company, he said.

Laubereau did not comment on the status at DyStar’s three remaining sites in Frankfurt, Ludwigshafen and Geretsried.

DyStar employs a staff of about 1,300 at the five sites.

The company ranks as one of the world’s largest textile chemicals producers, along with firms such as Huntsman and Clariant.

It was formed in 1995 out of the textile dyes businesses of Bayer and former German chemicals major Hoechst. In 2000, BASF integrated its dyes business into DyStar. US investment firm Platinum Equity bought it in 2004.

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By: Stefan Baumgarten
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