Richard Higgs
EUROPEAN PLASTICS NEWS
Published: July 10, 2014 9:59 am ET
Updated: July 10, 2014 10:02 am ET
Packaging businesses, formerly operated by bankrupt Spanish PET group La Seda de Barcelona (LSB) are to be sold off as a group with sites throughout Europe, the Catalan commercial court overseeing the LSB liquidation process has ruled.
The joint asset sale will comprise production units of the APPE PET packaging division, along with shares of those subsidiary companies not subject to LSB's bankruptcy hearings. The package will also include the rights of use of industrial property the stricken group owns, according to a report to the National Stock Market Commission (CNMV).
APPE assets included are APPE Iberia, APPE Germany, APPE France, APPE Benelux, APPE UK and APPE Polska in Poland. The additional businesses not involved in bankruptcy proceedings include Artenius PET Packaging Maroc in Morocco, Sarlau — a subsidiary of APPE Iberia — and APPE Turkpack Plastik Ambalaj Malzemeleri San.
The LSB bankruptcy administrator, Forest Partners Estrada y Asociados expressed confidence that the joint asset sale can be carried out “in the shortest possible time and in a successful manner” so allowing each of the companies to maintain its business, achieving the maximum recovery possible for LSB creditors and the best outcome for customers, suppliers and employees.
Earlier this year, a minimum reserve price for operations of LSB’s PET packaging division was reportedly set at 210 million euros ($285.7 million) and at that stage, only one firm bid for the APPE rigid containers assets was understood to have been made, by the Portuguese packaging producer Logoplaste. | 
