Richard Higgs
EUROPEAN PLASTICS NEWS
Published: December 26, 2013 7:43 am ET
Updated: December 26, 2013 7:44 am ET
A Turkish petrochemicals group, Polisan Holding reportedly plans to restart the former PET polymer plant of Spanish group La Seda de Barcelona in Volos, Greece, by the end of this year.
The 80,000 metric ton per year Artenius Hellas facility, which was mothballed by the insolvent Barcelona-based group early this year, was bought in September by Polisan of Ankara for �8.6 million. The Greek plant, which employed almost 100, has been renamed Polisan Hellas.
Polisan has been negotiating with potential PET customers for the PET and bottle preforms unit and local news reports the group's CEO, Necmettin Bitlis, is confident that the market will accept more than 90 percent of the Volos output. The group is targeting sales in Greece, the Balkans and Turkey.
The former La Seda plant suffered from a cutback in production capacity and dwindling local demand. The Spanish group has been seeking buyers for its PET operations and originally looked at possibly closing down the Greek unit altogether if it was unable to sell it.
Meanwhile, there is hope that some operations of insolvent LSB included in the current liquidation process may attract buyers. Press reports suggest interest has been shown by up to four potential purchasers in its 200,000 metric ton per year Italian PET plant at San Giorgio di Nogaro, near Udine, Italy.
Reports indicate that the assets of LSB's recycling subsidiary Artenius Green, with a plant at Beaune, France, could also be sold. | 
