The acquisition of Crown Van Gelder is in its final phase. Curator Rocco Mulder hopes to be able to reveal the name of the company ‘in the foreseeable future’ that will make a restart with the paper factory from Velsen-Noord, which was declared bankrupt almost three weeks ago. “We have an agreement in outline,” he says. “Now it’s a matter of dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s.”
Mulder does not want to confirm that it concerns the American company EPAC Technologies. He is also unable to say anything about the form in which Crown Van Gelder will continue under the likely American leadership. It is true that the 250 employees of the 126-year-old paper mill will remain employed. If everything goes according to plan, the machines could possibly be running again within two weeks. The salary that has been paid by the UWV since the bankruptcy comes from that moment from the cash of the new owner.
Optimism
Optimism prevails among the staff, as is evident at the gate of the company. “The atmosphere is good,” says an employee with a managerial position. “The people go for it.” Two men in overalls who take a smoke break say they ‘officially don’t know anything yet’, but they aren’t too worried. “Crown Van Gelder is a healthy company. 2022 has been a good year. We even received a Christmas gift in December. So, to be honest, we never thought there would be no restart.”