The Europlasma group takes over Luxfer’s activities in Puy-de-Dôme


Taken over by the Europlasma group, the Luxfer plant in Gerzat (Puy-de-Dôme) will be able to resume its activity, announced the group and the public authorities on Friday. The factory had to close in 2019.

Finally, the recovery. The Europlasma group, specializing in the treatment of hazardous waste, will take over Luxfer’s activities in Gerzat (Puy-de-Dôme), the group and the public authorities announced on Friday. The factory had ceased its activity in 2019.

The Forges de Gerzat factory – a newly created company – requires an investment of 100 million euros, specify the Ministry of the Economy, the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region, the metropolis of Clermont-Ferrand and the Europlasma group in a joint press release. The site installed on bare land in Cébazat (Puy-de-Dôme) should allow the creation of 200 new jobs by 2028, underlines Europlasma in another press release, adding that “This ultramodern factory” will generate “A turnover of around 10 million euros from 2025”.

The plant will produce hollow bodies (aluminum bottles for storing high pressure gases) intended for various sectors of activity, including hospitals, and will also be involved in the recovery of raw materials from the treatment of waste from the food industry. aluminum.

“Special attention to the hiring of former Luxfer employees”

After the closure of the Luxfer plant in Gerzat in 2019, which resulted in the loss of 136 jobs, and with Brexit, no European factory produced this type of bottle. “Given the importance of maintaining a production capacity for high pressure gas cylinders in France and in Europe […] the public authorities have worked hard to find a buyer likely to revive an activity that has become essential ”, specifies the joint press release.

Europlasma “Provides 25 million euros in equity capital raised over 5 years and 25 million euros in private debt raised from its historical financial partner”. The State (4.5 million) and the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region (3 million) are subsidizing the project to the tune of 7.5 million euros. The State will finance debt to the tune of 15 million euros via the Fund for Economic and Social Development. The region will support Les Forges de Gerzat in terms of its skills in terms of training and professionalization. Finally, Clermont Auvergne Métropole will finance the land and the construction of an ergonomic industrial building to the tune of 34 million euros.

Europlasma will carry “Special attention to the hiring of former Luxfer employees” and some will participate in the construction of the plant, Bercy said. “The objective is to be able to ensure that a large part of the employees who were on the Luxfer site can integrate this new site”, we added. The start of construction of the plant is scheduled for 2023, with the start of activity in 2024.

Based in Nottingham, England, Luxfer announced at the end of November 2018 the final closure of the Auvergne factory, the only one it owned in France. The plant, acquired in 2001 from a subsidiary of Pechiney-Rhenalu, manufactured fire extinguishers for emergency services, oxygen cylinders for medical use and other types of aluminum cylinders.



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