- Alteo is looking for a partner or a buyer for its Gardanne site.
- Alteo management clarified that the bankruptcy proceedings opened in December for its Gardanne site and its approximately 500 employees "were continuing."
- Interested investors have until 5 p.m. July 24 to submit their offers.
Alteo is looking for a partner or a buyer for its Gardanne site (Bouches-du-Rhone), in receivership, said the management and the group's lawyer, world leader in specialty aluminas.
Confirming information from the Marseille investigative media Marsactu, Alteo management said that the bankruptcy proceedings opened in December for its Gardanne site and its approximately 500 employees "were continuing."
Submission of tenders until July 24
"It is in this context that, as planned from the start, a call for partnerships and [a] call for tenders were launched by the administrators", explains the management of the group, whose aluminas are in particular used in smartphone screens. According to the text of the “call for partnership or search for a candidate for a disposal project”, sent by the company's lawyer, interested investors have until July 24 at 5 p.m. to submit their offers.
Alteo, which "realizes 70% of its turnover internationally and covers 80% of the alumina needs of the French market", according to this text, achieved a turnover of 228 million euros in 2019, for an operating profit estimated at 9 million euros. The group employed 511 people at the start of the recovery procedure, making it one of the major employers in the Aix-Marseille area.
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In December, Alteo management announced a “sharp drop” in orders. In addition to smartphone and television screens, specialty alumina is used in building materials. "Production was slowed down during the containment but we are in the phase of gradual recovery and we continue to deliver to our customers," said Alteo management, without giving figures.
Very criticized for years for its discharges in the Calanques national park, near Marseille, Alteo has just benefited from an additional period until June 30 to bring itself up to standard. This upgrading to standards depends in particular on a water treatment unit, "in the process of being finalized and which will be fully operational during the summer", according to the company.
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