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.
SABIC, the Saudi Arabian petrochemical multinational group, has announced the closure of its Lexan 1 plant in La Aljorra (Cartagena), which could result in the loss of between 200 and 300 jobs, according to the company’s works council (the final figure is still unclear). The decision follows the sale of the facility to Mutares, a German investment fund, as part of a wider restructuring of SABIC’s operations in Europe and America.
According to union representatives, the closure will have a severe impact, stressing the difficulty of reassigning many employees due to the workforce’s average age of around 50. In response, employees have begun protests at the plant gates, and demanding a social plan to mitigate the effects of the shutdown. Unions are preparing a series of industrial actions and strikes to increase pressure on the company, andf have called both the company and public authorities to intervene urgently to prevent massive layoffs and safeguard the region’s industrial base. Meanwhile, Mutares claims the acquisition will strengthen the international platform of the Spanish plant.
Eurofound (2026), SABIC España, Closure in Spain, factsheet number 203939, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/203939.
Eurofound’s ERM restructuring legislation database offers an overview of key restructuring-related regulations in the EU Member States and Norway. Its content is continuously updated to reflect any changes made by national legislators in response to, for instance, policy shifts, legal...
Can Europe still achieve its ambitions for battery manufacturing? To answer this, the article looks at data from Eurofound’s European Restructuring Monitor and explores what recent large-scale restructuring events reveal about the state of play in the EU battery sector.
This working paper offers a comprehensive methodological overview of the European Restructuring Monitor (ERM) databases. Even though the methodology has not changed over time, new categories have been added, and the way it has been used by researchers and policymakers...
This Eurofound research paper explores key trends in restructuring in recent years, highlighting the companies that announced the largest job losses and job gains in the EU. It builds on an analysis of company announcements recorded in Eurofound’s European Restructuring...
In 2023, thousands of workers in big tech lost their jobs. Meta, Amazon, Google, Apple, Microsoft and Salesforce had been considered to offer good and secure jobs up to this point. Giants of the information and communication technology (ICT) sector,...
In 2024, the automotive sector in the EU came to the fore in public and policy discussions. The focus was on the slowdown in electric vehicle (EV) sales, rising global competition, belated investments in new technologies, and the potential closure...
