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.
On 3 January 2013, the paper factory UPM Stracel (Strasbourg) finalized its redundancy plan affecting 250 employees.
The Finnish parent company UPM wants to shut down the magazine paper mill permanently by end February 2013. UPM has also launched a restructuring procedure in Finland and Germany (see here). Although production is already halted, the winding-down process is expected to take seven weeks. Two firms - VPK Packaging group and Kingele - are set to acquire the factory and convert it into a cardboard factory. The group has pledged to take on 130 of the UPM Stracel staff, but no date has yet been made public.
The Central Works Council for UPM in France has issued an assessment critical of the financial justification for the site closure, and of the support made available to those made redundant. The trade unions claim that the site was running profitably.
Update 07-05-2013: UPM has finalised the sale of its Stracel mill site to a joint-venture between Klingele Papierwerke and VPK Packaging Group (the joint venture is called Blue Paper). The new owner has taken over 130 employees and 120 were dismissed.
Eurofound (2013), Stracel, Closure in France, factsheet number 73937, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/73937.