In the summer of 2017, the CEL Group had to initiate an extraordinary administration process during which a tender procedure was launched for the sale of its production assets. The acquisition by Lucart was finalised on 31 January through a newly established company, Lucart Tissue & Soap S.L.U.
Lucart’s project for restarting the business includes an investment plan of more than €20 million over the next 5 years.
With this operation, Lucart has acquired three production facilities in Spain, in the Basque Country near the city of Bilbao, designated for the production and conversion of tissue paper and the production of personal care soaps and detergents in the Away from Home industry. The acquisition also includes a substantial de-inking plant, which will allow Lucart to exploit its know-how in the sector of high-quality recycled ecological tissue paper, further consolidating its position as a leader in this field.
In terms of logistics, the geographical location of the plants is ideal for Lucart for serving both the Iberian and French markets.
In order to gradually resume production, Lucart has confirmed 146 jobs in the three plants acquired, with a business plan that envisages the following:
- restarting two continuous machines at the Aranguren plant, for an overall capacity of 50,000 tonnes per year;
- gradually restarting and implementing the converting activity in the Gunes plant;
- the development and strengthening of soap and detergent production activities in the Artziniega plant, which has never been discontinued.
‘This acquisition will allow us to continue to strengthen our presence in the tissue paper market, in line with the company’s strategic growth plan in European markets, serving all of our Group’s Business Units,’ Massimo Pasquini, Managing Director of Lucart, explained.
