Aluminum factory Aldel from Delfzijl in Groningen filed for bankruptcy with the court on Thursday. Financial director Eric Wildschut confirms this after reporting by NOS. The staff was also informed on Thursday. The main cause of the financial problems is the high energy prices, which have caused production to come to a standstill since the beginning of September.
On Monday, the factory already applied for a postponement of payment from the court. Since then, the factory has tried to find a payment solution together with an administrator, but according to Wildschut there were insufficient liquid resources to achieve this. He hopes that parties with whom Aldel has spoken before will return, because the situation is very different now. “There may still be a sale.” He did not name names of parties interested in the past.
The manufacturing and melting of aluminum is a power-guzzling process. Due to the high energy prices, the factory was therefore shut down in September, the foundry had not been running for some time. That previously led to the dismissal of the vast majority of Aldel’s staff. The 25 employees who were still working at the company before a possible restart are now being dismissed.
Aldel is disappointed that the government has not helped the company survive the energy crisis, despite several requests for help and a letter of fire. “The seriousness of the case was not well known,” Wildschut said. “We are now the first to fall. I have the terrible fear that many more companies will follow if nothing happens.” So far, the Dutch government has weighed in not offering support to heavy industry: that would not help the switch to green technologies, and is not a structural solution if the gas price remains high.
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