Swiss composites specialist Gurit (Wattwil; www.gurit.com) is planning to close the purchase of Valplastic's (Carmignano di Brenta / Italy; www.valplasticspa.it) PET recycling plant by the end of May 2019. The Valplastic brand would not be part of the transaction. The purchase price was not mentioned by the Swiss company or the seller, Industrie Maurizio Peruzzo (IMP, Grantorto / Italy; www.peruzzoindustries.com).

Gurit is looking to secure raw material supply of PET, according to CEO Rudolf Hadorn. The company's own value chain will then extend from PET bottles to the extrusion of core materials for rotors used in wind energy plants.

Founded in 2001 in Padua / Italy, Valplastic has an input capacity of 35,000 t/y of processed PET bottles, according to its website. Hadorn told Plasteurope.com, however, that Valplastic's current capacity to be acquired by Gurit does not correspond to this number – it is less, but he did not specify the exact amount. The Italian recycler produces PET flakes and resin in clear, blue and coloured grades and employs about 40 people. Valplastic's sister recycler IMP Polowat (Bielsko-Biala / Poland; www.polowat.pl) is not part of the buy, Gurit told PIE.

Gurit is looking at securing raw material, which has a consistent quality, for the extrusion of structural core materials made from PET recyclate. At the same time, it would like to reduce costs. The Swiss company's end products include materials such as "Kerdyn", which is a highly consistent extruded PET foam suited for wind energy, marine, industrial and transportation applications.

The recyclate is likely to be supplied mainly to processing company Gurit Italy in Volpiano near Milan. CEO Hadorn did not disclose to Plasteurope.com whether Gurit will supply its second foam extrusion company Gurit (Tianjin) Composite Material in Tianjin / China. For both subsidiaries, extensions are planned in the medium term. How much PET is currently being processed annually and whether recyclate is already being used is also confidential, according to Hadorn.

IMP is a family-run, Italian industrial conglomerate with activities in the fibre, textiles and real estate sectors. Core to the group is cotton wool producer Ovattificio Resinatura Valpadana (ORV). In addition to that, there are another 28 companies for, among other things, geotextiles, reinforcements for bitumen roofing sheets, thermoacoustic insulation materials, felts and filtration materials for the automotive industry. About 1,800 employees at 18 European plants are employed by IMP.