PARIS, April 11. /TASS/. A chemical plant operated by the French company Vencorex, located near Grenoble and producing, among other things, reagents critical to France’s nuclear forces and atomic energy sector, has been fully acquired by the Chinese company Wanhua Chemical Group. The decision was made by the Commercial Court of Lyon.

According to Franceinfo radio, Vencorex had been struggling due to increasing competition from Chinese companies, a trend that intensified particularly after 2022. The plant, whose sole shareholder was the Thai petrochemical group PTT Global Chemical (PTT GC), was placed under external administration on September 10, 2024, due to financial difficulties. As a result, two proposals for refinancing the facility were submitted to the Commercial Court of Lyon: one from BorsodChem, the Hungarian subsidiary of Wanhua, and the other a plan to create a cooperative society of collective interest (SCIC), backed by the National Federation of the Chemical Industry (FNIC) and local authorities.

The Chinese company offered to invest €10 mln into the plant’s production but also proposed to reduce the workforce from the current 300 employees to just 50-60. Despite opposition from trade unions and the intervention of politicians, including former French President Francois Hollande, the court deemed the offer from the Chinese company - Vencorex’s primary competitor - the more viable solution.