Restructuring events
European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
The bio-sourced chemistry company Alpha Chitin has announced the recruitment of 150 employees within four years for its new production site located in Lacq (Pyrénées-Atlantiques). The plant is going to be ready in summer 2022 and it is producing chitosan, a molecule that is very useful in the health sector for the production of vaccines, certain medical implants or for cosmetics. About twenty jobs are being created for the plant's start-up. The workforce should then increase to 150 employees within four years. The State provided Alpha Chitin with a budget of 925,000 euros to boost its R & D, as part of the recovery plan. Through this, the development process has been accelerated. The company has developed a very innovative industrial process, by which chitosan is extracted from fly larvae, shrimp shells (krill) and a specific fungus. It is the only one to produce these molecules in Europe, and its ambition is to become the reference producer of these molecules, since China has reduced its exports. Alpha Chitin should be able to produce 2,000 tonnes of chitosan per year within 4 years.
Eurofound (2021), Alpha Chitin, Business expansion in France, factsheet number 105454, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/105454.